Introduction to Electrodynamics

I thought I liked the cheap price. There is a reason it’s cheap. It’s not a full print.

Not a fan of this Intro book. I like to see a lot of math and Griffiths doesn't deliver on that note for me.

Must read it if your are at the university

Griffiths clearly explains the material thoroughly and provides simple to moderate level explains that help you gain intuition to solve the harder practice problems. Definitely helped sharpen my understanding of EM and do well in my upper div EM class.

This book is an illegal copy. There is no printing information, including citation page, anywhere on the book, including outside on the cover. The book itself is not missing any pages, it simply is not printed with required by law portions. The book is terribly printed on cheap paper, and cheaply bound to a cheap cover. The color of the cover is not quite the right color either. When compared to an authentic book side by side, significant differences were found. This iteration was found to have none of the standard equations, definitions, and constants printed in the inside of both covers. The index in the beginning lists names of chapters only, not sections or their numbers. The problems in the book are not numbered the same way, so when assigned problems for a homework, you have to count from the beginning of the chapter to make sure you work the right one. The first day I got the book, the front cover partially separated. There are frequent misspellings in the book, including on the back cover. Interestingly, one side of a red zipper is glued to the spines at the top and bottom, which at a distance, I assume, were intended to look like stitching on the caps of the spine.

First and foremost, this review is *not* about the content of the book, it's *only* about the binding. So please do *not* take the one star rating for the content. This book has probably the worst binding of any book I've ever owned. It just fell apart literally, and it's only in my hands for about 3 weeks. Considering that I always take good care of my books, this is really terrible, especially for the $130+ price. And if you read other reviews, you'd find that this is not a dealer specific thing. The binding of this book is terrible no matter which seller you buy from. I urge Pearson to do more QA on this book.

Fast shipping and great quality

The build quality of this edition of the book leaves much to be desired. A majority of the pages are separating from the spine after only a couple of weeks use. It should also be noted that the differences between this and the third edition of this text are minutely different with entire sections simply being copied and pasted into this new edition from the previous. Problem statements have been shuffled around with few additions to the text. The content within the text itself is quite good. Subject matter is very informative and the method for which the material is presented is intuitive. However, all of this can be found in the cheaper and better-quality third edition. I would not recommend this product.

the pages were torn apart

It arrived whole

I have the paperback international edition published by Pearson. Oh boy what a disappointment ... Where should I start... FIRST: Whatever the heck happened to chapter numbers?? I mean why would anyone in their right mind omit chapter numbering??? Hello? SECOND: The pages are huge in size but the actual printed area on each page is less than half the physical area. This makes the book floppy and hard to carry around. THIRD: Asif to add insult to injury, the fonts are less than 10 pts in size. Why would anyone be so stupid, I have no idea. You have all that blank real estate on the page there, which makes the book bulky and yet the fonts are so small one needs to continually squint reading the darn thing. FOURTH: The previous editions used to have a list of formulas on the inside of the front and back covers, which saved you a lot of time looking up vector identities and so forth. Where have all the formulas gone? To save ink perhaps? Dumb dumb dumb. FIFTH: Because there are no chapter numbers, it's impossible to reference an equation from another chapter, e.g. as Eq. 5.13 for equation 13 in chapter 5. Consequently there are oddities such as the one on page 255, where it says "This integral can be written in a more illuminating way, with c=^r" What c? Which c? How are we to be illuminated now? It turns out, looking at the 3rd edition that he actually means the c in Equation 108 in Chapter 1. But can't refer to it as Eq 1.108 as before, so he completely omits the reference altogether, leaving the student scratching his head. Smart, very smart. Just make the reader feel stupid omitting what would amount to trivial details. I don't know whose fault this edition was, but it should promptly be "recalled" and replaced by a sane book, which is/was what we're used to expect from Griffiths.

It speaks volumes when the 4th edition is priced lower at $125.14, and the 3rd edition is priced higher at $133.00, on Amazon. It's abundantly clear the publisher's (Addison-Wesley's) reputation for complete lack of integrity in failing to correct errors is driving people towards the older edition, and towards avoiding the newest (4th) edition. The author has done a reasonable job of collating errata and posting it on his university website, although he could be more proactive about it. This begs the question: WHY HASN'T THE PUBLISHER SHOWN ANY INTEGRITY BY INCORPORATING THOSE ERRATA INTO EACH SUCCESSIVE PRINTING? The publisher (University Science Books) of Classical Mechanics by John Taylor exhibted utmost integrity by working "proactively" with the author to ensure virtually 'all' errors were corrected by the 3rd printing. WHY HASN'T ADDISON-WESLEY DONE THIS WITH GRIFFITHS' TEXT? COMPLETE LACK OF INTEGRITY ON THE PART OF THE PUBLISHER. TO THE AUTHOR: MANY PEOPLE APPRECIATE YOUR EXCELLENT WRITING. BUT PLEASE SERIOUSLY CONSIDER SWITCHING PUBLISHERS. UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BOOKS IS AN EXCELLENT ALTERNATIVE TO THIS SLOPPY PUBLISHER YOU'RE CURRENTLY USING. **TO THE STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS: PROFESSOR MUNIR NAYFEH JUST RE-RELEASED HIS TEXTBOOK (ISBN-13: 978-0486789712) THROUGH DOVER IN 2015. "THIS" IS AN EXCELLENT ALTERNATIVE TO GRIFFITHS, WITH MANY WORKED OUT EXAMPLES. NAYFEH TAUGHT UNDERGRAD E&M AT U OF ILLINOIS, AND HAS RECEIVED HIGH PRAISES FROM COUNTLESS STUDENTS.** Griffiths' examples and writing leave you in need of a solid instructor, and is not very suitable for self-study. The writing and examples are overly simple, and don't get you thinking about the next level. Nayfeh's book is better suited for truly learning. His writing is not overly simplified, and there are many worked examples. Also, Nayfeh has answers to many odd problems in the back of the book, further aiding self-study, and learning.

I congratulate Griffiths for dumbing down Electrodynamics to the masses, but it's still ugly. I'm still waiting for a pretty modern presentation of EM in a mathematically rigorous fashion a la mathematical physicists for us smart people. Unfortunately, even schools at UCLA where you pay a high price (can you imagine Princeton!), they are handing us smart boys books like these and requiring us to do vector calculus all over at the beginning as if we didn't pay hell and high water to get through that rigorous course the first time. It's dumb. Leave that section out of it. But yes, physicists love to teach math their way, so they can show us how easy it is for them to swing around divergence and covariance like no other. Please. He has another text on quantum physics in the same light - dumb! Try reading Dirac or Max Born. Don't waste your time studying physics if you can't hack it with these big boys. Wait your turn, study the mathematics well enough and start out right, instead of being talked to like a baby in Chapter one.

Good condition of book is great and quality is best and this book delivered in two days.

It is a well-written book. Some Physics textbooks were written drily without good literary skills, with sections of wording the intended meanings of which were frustratingly unclear, or lacking in depth and detail. Not this one. I'm still reading it, so cannot give a full review. But it's promising - incidentally, on the day I opened it, for a while it lay on my desk in front of a window and for a period of time a soft flow of light shone onto its cover and illuminated the formulae there, then I thought "This is how electrodynamics can be learnt.".

may be a bit to advanced for my needs but had little work on toroidal windings

Good Book. But "Classical Electrodynamics" by John David Jackson is my favourite. This books covered some basics very elaborately which Jackson didn't but Jackson clarified some matters better than Griffiths. So, both of the books combied is the best composition for learning and grasping the ideas of classical electrodynamics.

This book has helped me so much! lots of people complain that this edition has too much white blank space but it is perfect for annotating. The problems are worked through and there are lots of examples. the maths is rigorously worked through and the theory is mapped out clearly.

i hate em

Excellent condition

horrendous binding. I rented this book on Amazon, barely used it and it was standing on my bookshelf for about 6 month, the majority of the book fell apart

The textbook was okay, and served its purpose. However, the quality of the textbooks from this dealer is poor. Try and rent elsewhere first, they should be a last resort.

Product was as claimed to be, with and excellent price and fast response time.

very bad, I pay rate twice and the book's paper is bad

This is a classical book for electrical engineering students. It has a good notation, good explanation, good examples and excellent problems.

Thanks.

As advertised!

love this book

I have used the quantum mechanics book from Griffith too. I think his books are in a leisure style that makes the subject accesible. The explanation sometimes helps a lot. A drawback is that he sometimes introduces something he thinks relevant without enough previous explanation or derivation. It's not bad for introduction but for those who seeks for firm basis and for self learners I think it's not so suitable.

book cover and pages were low quality and started falling apart soon after receiving it. Would not buy from this source again.

This book teach you, ,,how to learn physics,,,,

- It looks like 2nd hand book - it was not mentioned that the book is old edition - Binding not up to the mark

Versione indiana, non coincidente, seppur sempre quarta, con la versione internazionale. Ci sono meno contenuti. Comunque mi è arrivato in 30 giorni con parecchie pagine sfasciate.

Ho studiato su questo libro per preparare l'esame di Elettromagnetismo del Corso di Fisica all'UniFi, unisce chiarezza e sintesi, molto consigliato. L'edizione indiana mi è arrivata con alcuni leggeri graffi in copertina e le pagine sono molto sottili. Ci sono alcuni esempi svolti, ma non sono riportate le soluzioni degli esercizi proposti.

It's basically what the title describes. This is definitely the best book you can buy on electromagnetism, it's concise, it has all the math you need at the beginning plus it has lots of useful examples and exercises. It's a must-have on every student's shelf

I know a lot of people love this book, but I am not one of them. I found that many times it lacked rigour and I felt many of the arguments was something I would've heard in first year. The section of relativity was not great, and neither was his explanations of gauge freedom in E&M, and why it is important. Many of the problems are just grinding or involve a trick.

Compre la edición en tapa dura y su calidad es excelente (merece la pena dejarse un poco más de dinero porque éste libro lo merece). El envío llegó antes de tiempo y fue perfecto.

Es un clásico y es en verdad uno de los mejores libros en electro que te puedes encontrar, además de ser libro base de los cursos a nivel licenciatura (undergraduate) de electromagnetismo. Lo malo es que llegó un poco maltratado, nada que afectara su legibilidad. Por otra parte el papel no es lo mejor, sin embargo se lee sin problemas.

If you want to build a strong base in electrodynamics, then this is what you need. It book contain very good mathematical description. This book along with Feynman Lectures Vol-2, will be sufficient for Undergraduate course in Electrodynamics.

Great book but the side was a bit torn when I received it. I don't usually have a problem with books from Amazon.

This is the textbook of choice for both instructors (I am one) and students. Griffiths has a lively, engaging writing style that covers fundamental concepts in electrodynamics in a clear manner, and follows up with illuminating examples and problems. An excellent entry point to a working knowledge of a fascinating subject.

Ho acquistato la versione con la copertina flessibile. La differenza di prezzo rispetto alla versione con copertina rigida si fa notare esclusivamente nelle pagine che sono abbastanza sottili, ma nulla che ne impedisca la lettura. Non è assolutamente vero che si strappano solo a guardarle. Come contenuti (confrontandolo con un pdf della versione a copertina rigida) sono scritti allo stesso modo, non mi sembra ci siano differenza di contenuti. Riferendomi all'indice delle due versioni ho notato che alcuni capitoli sono invertiti nell'ordine e manca un ultimo capitolo sul calcolo vettoriale in coordinate curvilinee

The print quality is obviously not as good as the hardcover version, but the price to quality ratio is quite acceptable. The only thing, which is a little bit annoying, is the fact that the Table of Contents is very minimalist. In terms of content, it is a very good introduction to Electrodynamics with clear explanations and some worked out examples, together with many problems to be solved. As a side note, on the cover it is remarked that this copy of the book is authorized for sale only within the Indian subcontinent. This seems to be no problem though, as I bought it in Europe.

David J. Griffiths Introduction to Electrodynamics can undoubtedly be dubbed a classic amongst Physics textbooks. It is an amazing book with adequate equations and it provides a clear approach towards the development of concepts in Electrodynamics. I personally bought the hardcover edition keeping longevity in mind. Anyone can pick up this book if they want a clearer concept of Electrodynamics although the course of reading does expect a knowledge of undergraduate mathematics, not recommended if someone wants to buy it for JEE or related examinations.

...para el libro como tal le daría 3 estrellas. Es un libro copia, semi artesanal. No está mal. Las impresiones son perfectamente legibles. A muy buen precio comparado con el original. Hojas de pocos gramos. Valoro que obtengas por el precio la calidad que amerita. Por lo pronto me sirve para estudiar, en un futuro me planteo comprar el original para tenerlo como consulta permanente.

Testo eccellente, dettagliato e completo. Lo stilo linguistico è di tipo informale, colloquiale, che va direttamente al sodo delle questioni senza troppe complicazioni e facendo riferimento all'intuito. Ogni passaggio matematico importante viene esplicitato mettendo in evidenzia i principali concetti fisici che accompagnano i procedimento formali. Il testo si presta pertanto ad essere letto a più livelli di profondità secondo le proprie esigenze ed interessi. La fisica degli argomenti trattati non è mai oscurata dal formalismo matematico, come dovrebbe essere in qualunque buon manuale di fisica e ingegneria. Il libro si rivolge principalmente ai fisici, ma è di grande utilità anche per ingegneri elettrici e altri tecnici che necessitano di rivedere alcuni concetti fondamentali di elettromagnetismo. Il testo si caratterizza anche per la sua completezza: include una chiara introduzione all'elettrodinamica relativistica, difficile da trovare in altri testi di questo livello intermedio. In ogni modo, nonostante si tratti di un'introduzione all'elettrodinamica, è consigliato approcciarsi a questa lettura solo dopo già aver consultato testi ad un livello un po' più elementare. Gli strumenti matematici richiesti sono spiegati ma, a mio avviso, è necessaria qualche integrazione con altri manuali

Aunque no destaca por su rigor matemático, presenta el temario de una manera muy cómoda e interesante, que facilita la comprensión más profundo de lo que se expone y trata el electromagnetismo de una manera considerablemente extensa. Lo recomiendo mucho tanto como complemento para estudiar como para ser un libro de consulta a largo plazo.

Awesome one word is sufficient. Can be used at both UG and PG level without any difficulty. Author needs no introduction. Book is leading bestseller in its category.

The edition that will be shipped to you if you buy the softcover book is the international edition meant for India and Southeast Asia, it is not meant to be sold elsewhere (in fact, your book will come with big, ugly stickers that cover this warning). It is a very poor quality edition, with tiny, poor typing and thin, flimsy paper. The book itself is excellent and it is a cheap choice, but be warned.

A must have for students studying electromagnetism. The style in which the book is written is very interesting. It is as if the author is talking to you, it's humorous at times also. It's rife with examples and problems that'll help you understand the different topics easily.

I used Griffiths 2nd edition for my undergrad E&M classes way back in the 90's. As with most things in life, you don't appreciate it until you experience the rest. I'm referring to other textbooks not just in E&M but in other classes like classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, etc. Electrodynamics is a difficult subject. In my opinion, it was the most difficult in my undergraduate physics curriculum. Quantum mechanics is conceptually hard because it is so far from everyday experience but the math is not too bad especially if you use bra ket notation. But E&M is both mathematically difficult as well as conceptually. Problems involving Maxwell's equations can take hours. Anyway, back to Griffiths and why it's so good. His explanations are crisp and clear. The math you need like Stoke's theorem is developed along the way and very well presented. Worked examples are plenty and really explain the physics. I know graduate students who kept their Griffiths and used it to supplement Jackson. For some, Griffiths was the only way they could get through Jackson and grad E&M.

The price is very tempting, which is why I took the risk, even though other reviews told of misprints and missing chapters and whatnot. I am using this book for a class and had the US version on hand (library copy) so I made sure to go through for a thorough comparison. My edition had no missing chapters, all the information was there, but sometimes out of order or labeled differently. The chapters all had the same titles but the subsections within each chapter restarted their numbering system with each chapter (i.e. Chapter 1 problem 1 US version: 1.1, International: 1). This is fine within the chapter but makes it more difficult to reference previous chapter questions or examples as the US version does on occasion, and the international version excludes. The US version has a more detailed table of contents, listing all sub and sub-sub chapters within the 12 main ones, while the international simply lists the main 12. The international edition is missing Appendix A titled, "Vector Calculus in Curvilinear Coordinates". As well, the international version is missing a few end of chapter questions (from what I could tell, these were all questions that dealt with previous chapters) and doesn't have as extensive footnotes. Few questions were excluded, which is why I still recommend this version for the price. The last thing I noted was a difference in printing quality, significant, but by no means difficult to read - it mainly came across in the diagrams for the chapter and chapter questions. Overall, I was happy with the edition.

I studied electrical engineering in college 20 years ago, and recently wanted to refresh my knowledge of electrodynamics. I wish this was the text book we were using back then. The author has a solid intuition about the mathematics and does a great job passing that on to the reader, and he's careful to show you how everything fits into the overall picture. You need to have a solid understanding of calculus going into this, but it's otherwise self-contained. Tip: don't proceed past the sections on divergence, curl and surface integrals until you've mastered these concepts. Once you're comfortable with these, the rest of the material is pretty simple (and if you haven't mastered them, I suspect the rest of the material will be a nightmare).

The book was damaged during transportation so I feel dissatisfied. Afterward,I wish you to be careful when you transport everything.

Book is an excellent choice for an introduction. Sadly the paperback version is utter trash. It fell apart after only lightly reading 2 chapters. Do yourself a favor and buy an ED book from a quality publisher or an okder edition of griffiths. Do NOT spend money on this utter trash.

If you buy the cheaper Paperback option, it is the International edition. I did this for one of my undergraduate courses and deeply regretted it because: - It does not have the useful formula cheatsheet in the inside covers. - Several sections are out of order, and thus have different page numbers. - It was harder to navigate because the chapter number and title are NOT printed at the top of the page. I'm buying the hardcover edition for my graduate course to avoid the same pain.

It has been a while since I sat in a Physics class, but many of the books we read as under graduates were always a level beyond where we were in complexity, considering Jackson -etal. I had the pleasure of learning the topic from the Electrical Engineering Department where the Chen Book explored the practicality of the subject. I thought David Griffith's book on Electrodynamics explained the Topic very well. The mathematics of vectors being used was quite helpful - especially on gauge theorem matters that give birth to both the cross and dot product including the many coordinate systems. David's unique use of language gave us all a more pedestrian's glimpse into a very complex topic. I would recommend this book to all undergraduates doing Physics, his explanations help demystify the subject matter similar to what the Zill book does with Differential Equations.

When I got this book it appeared to have been crushed. It immediately began falling apart. I don't think I will rent any more books.

Got me through my Junior-year Electrodynamics class. The book is witty and offers clear explanations. The problems come in a wide range of difficulties. The math is fairly self-contained (though there are some obvious prerequisites). Would recommend a thousand times over.

It is a great presentation of the material. I think it is at the perfect level for an advanced undergrad course. I found that it was also very helpful to reread it in graduate school to prepare for qualifying exams, as well as to better understand a harder textbook like Jackson. Good resource to have to make it through traditionally one of the toughest undergrad courses.

This is the international edition which is drastically cheaper. The paper quality is a lot worse and the text is smaller but the content is the same as the original.

1st week of school and my book is missing chapter 1-totally ripped out. I can get around it by sharing with classmates, but this is ridiculous. No one checks the items be before throwing them in box to ship? Or when they are returned?

good

Excellent in-depth overview of Electrodynamics, magnetodynamics, as well as statics, with review of necessary core mathematical descriptions and powerful examples, illustrating the concepts Griffiths develops. Delivery was timely and in excellent condition as promised.

Back of front page has missing content - Equations which is essential for students to have for reference. Will not recommend.

This man can write a textbook. Hope that your professor teaches with this, and if you take quantum mechanics that one by Griffiths is gold too.

This is a review of the fourth edition hardcover. I used this book for self study, so here are some thoughts on that. First, Griffith's answer to the fourth edition are available on the web, but you have to do a bit of searching to find it. Answer to the third edition are more easily available. Second, the binding of the book does fall apart, and the cover does shred, so a lot of tape is needed. However the pages themselves held up well. Third, Griffiths is frugal with words. I really found myself wishing that more was said and this is my biggest criticism of the book. Maybe a teacher would have filled in what I wanted. Fourth, the problems are hard. Some problems are marked as being harder and oh boy are they hard. When I say that the problems are hard I am comparing them to the difficulty of problems in Taylor's Mechanics which should be on the same level. But Griffiths's problems are much harder.

Didn't see anything on the products info, but this international edition does not include the Preface, the Advertisement, or Appendix A (these sections are, however, included in the U.S. version of the book). Although this may seem detrimental, it isn't a very big deal. The first two sections mentioned aren't essential for learning the material.

*UPDATE* I am continuing to use the book in winter term for the second term of E&M. Lots of pages have now fallen out and you can see the notches on each page in most parts of the book. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Awful quality. Buy the paperback version at least--though I have seen pages coming out on that one too. Better yet, buy the e book. unfortunately I like having a physical book... -original review- The content is good, and fairly well organized. I didn't ever struggle to learn from the text and use lecture as supplement. But as others have said, the physicality of the book is terrible. I have the standard hardcover version and have only been using it since late September (it's December now). The spine crackles incessantly and loudly when the book is moved about, and the glue seems to weakly hold the pages--a huge section in chapter 4 of my text is falling out and one page is fully detached already. It wasn't like this at the start of the term, so I think carrying the book in my backpack caused damage. If you buy the hardcover, don't carry the book around. Just download a copy from the internet and keep that on your phone or tablet or whatever. If you need to buy this book for a class (let's face it, who doesn't?), buy the paperback version if you can.

good stuff

Used it for undergrad level em great book. Very clear illustration. A great entry level textbook. However, if you want something harder , look into landau

Its a good book but problems are NOT the same as the US edition making it useless for homework. This should be in the description

For the most part. Some of the pages were a bit folded, and there were some misprints.

Griffiths is a very entertaining writer and manages to bring a little spirit to a field which is not very intuitive or spirited. Halfway through the first quarter in a two-class upper-division E&M series, the book's binding crapped out and now two sections of the book flap about freely, connected only by the first or last pages in their sheaves. I had to acquire a PDF version from a source of dubious value to continue reading. If you get a physical copy of this book, get the sturdier 3rd edition and not this crap.

As an introductory book, it provides a smooth transition from vector analysis to thermodynamics.

Good book.

it's concise

Good Text.

As described and very quick shipping.

Great book, excellent for upperlevel students studying classical electrodynamics. This version uses MKS instead of Gauss units which also made things easier for me. I also found Griffiths to throw some humor in here and there which made it a pleasant surprise.

Almost everybody agrees that Griffith's book on the Introduction to Electrodynamics is a very good introductory book. I gave it five stars to express my appreciation for the clear presentation of the material. I believe it is one of the best books I have read about this subject. I would recommend it to anybody. That is my positive input. Now I will says some statements which are intended to be helpful if there was a revision of this book or somebody wanted to write a better book. First and foremost, this book and education in America about Electromagnetics in general and Electrodynamics in particular is devoted to a concept called charges along with infinitely long planes, perfect dipoles, and other notions. Mr. Griffiths will assure you that the equations he presents are the few isolated cases where any solution exists at all. That is correct as far as what exists. And usually those solutions depend on tricks such as symmetry. This sad state of education is reflected in that no person working with electrical circuits, magnetics, or motors directly needs any of this material in developing any product. (Or at least thinks he does not need any of this material.) That statement did not originate with me but was said decades ago in engineering courses in a college I will not mention. That is not a criticism of electromagnetics but a criticism of the way it is presented. My belief is that electromagnetics is fundamental to almost every branch of science. Too bad everything is compartmentalized and the EM course is marginalized. Electromagnetics is the most powerful of the forces that act between atoms and molecules - Wikipedia There is no "mechanical" force, or "thermal" force or any of the other classical concepts usually mentioned. Electromagnetics is the dominant force that impacts everything on a scale larger than a few atomic radii, not just electrons in metals. When you run your car into a cement wall it is the EM force that will kill you. The rain that falls on your face is due to EM fields combining water molecules. EM force is not completely or adequately described by the Maxwell equations. Though the equations help sometimes, they are just a start not holy writ. Recognizing the extreme importance of this force, there is a lot to be said about the fields. It is not restricted to a few isolated solutions to simplified differential equations about electrons flowing in a wire. The EM force is central to most product development. The Maxwell equations do not help but inventors develop an understanding of electromagnetics based on experience and blind luck. Practical innovation is based on learning about EM fields on an ad hoc basis. Thus almost everybody knows a lot about them. They just do not know what it really is. So they name it lots of other things like air friction, inertial tensor, viscosity, resistance, etc. Again EM is the dominant force between atoms and molecules that is central to everything. Can anybody write a book that recognizes and augments what people already know? Finally I must recognize of the conventional terminology of Classical Electrodynamics. Charges and Currents are just a metaphor for one aspect of the force in some situations. Quantum Electrodynamics establishes that the concepts are just a metaphor not the foundation of understanding. Still the metaphor does help understand the few isolated cases that exist in literature such as this book by Mr. Griffiths. Looking over this review it sounds too critical of Mr. Griffiths. My intention is not to insult this author, who I believe is one of the best authors, but to suggest what could make a book about this topic better than what exists in print today.

I use this for self-study and love it. I'm convinced it's one of the most lucid physics textbooks available. Because of this book, I went looking for Professor Griffith's other books and I acquired his book on Elementary Particles and on Quantum Mechanics. I have a degree in computer science, not physics, but I find these books just right.

This is a book that always provides intuition behind everything. It has the right balance of mathematics and intuitive discussion. It addresses subtle points on many occasions. Furthermore, the first chapter is a nice introduction to the mathematics that are used throughout the book; again, this is done in an intuitive way. The writing style is really special: it is breezy and makes the reader feel like he/she wants to read even more. It doesn't follow the serious tone of a typical textbook which makes this a much lighter read, even is sections that are very mathematical. All in all, it is certainly one of the best books on Electromagnetism out there.

Griffiths is a great source to go to for explanation, clarity and insight. I have three complaints in order of increasing severity: (1) the "script r" notation is a little irritating (though not confusing); I prefer r - r', which is much clearer in many proofs involving 1/|r - r'|, etc. (2) I prefer cgs units. As Melvin Schwartz wrote, using different units for E and B is as absurd as measuring a location on Earth using degrees for latitude and radians for longitude. (3) Worst of all, I cannot stand the relegation of relativity to a footnote. This seems to be like an abortion of electrodynamics. I remain surprised how few texts follow Purcell in using relativity to derive the magnetic field, and I cannot forgive Griffiths for not doing so. Accordingly I prefer Schwartz or Ohanian. But Griffiths remains a FUN book to read.

(c) Warning: Do not buy this edition! It is a cheap knock-off edition produced in violation of copyright law and some chapters are printed completely incorrectly! This was copied and pasted from my electromagnetism professor's website.

The book itself is pretty good. Still misses little important things like uniqueness theorems for magneto-static fields (despite having a sizable section in electrostatics on a parallel discussion) in chapter 5 and fails to introduce E&M Lagrangian despite coming close in chapter 10 (hence students have no idea why E&M gauge invariance is indeed actually a case of gauge invariance). On the positive side, I think the revisions from 3rd edition are subtle but valuable. So in my opinion the book is just short of perfect for the intermediate level (maybe half a star from 5). The 2 stars are for the publisher. Horrible physical book. Pages started to fall apart just about as soon as I opened the book. Students usually elect to keep these classics on their bookshelves for years but with this abomination they will be lucky to get through half a semester.

They say with textbooks you can learn by yourself, not with this textbook. This textbook loves to skip important steps and the index doesn’t matchup with the page numbers. Did I mention all the example problems are terrible and vague? I can’t wait for this book to be obsolete as it is a waste of people’s time, money and efforts.

The book is falling apart and I've only had it a few months. If you're going to charge $100+ for a hardcover, it should be decently bound. The only reason I'm giving this book 2 stars instead of 1 is because the content is pretty good.

i am using this book for upper division EM. to be honest, this is a terrible book compared with the QM book he wrote. it is so hard to get any physical intuition from the later chapters(momentums, relativistic EM...) I find Feynman much helpful in this area. I would enjoy Feynman much more than this book. disappointed since he only gave plenty of derivations without the big pictures.

Credentials: Took a 4-credit course in Intermediate Electrodynamics (upper-level college course) during the Spring 2013 semester. Having no previous experience with the 3rd edition of the textbook by Griffiths, I cannot comment on any improvements in the current edition. However, I can say this much: Griffiths is very fond of his own notation. Some of it makes sense (like the cursive r=r-r' to denote a relative position vector), while some of the overly formal representation with primed coordinates confused me most of the times. Regarding the organization of material, the author does a good job of explaining physical concepts in words, while also showing clear mathematical derivations and examples with nicely explained solutions. The large amount of practice problems varies from plug-and-chug to incredibly difficult, both conceptually and mathematically. I was indeed challenged while solving problem sets for my course, mostly from a conceptual point of view (Electrodynamics is inherently non-intuitive, in sheer contrast to, say, Classical Mechanics). Overall, I would rate this as a very solid undergraduate text. PS: I would not recommend this for self-study. This material is pretty heavy and a knowledgeable professor can make things easier! Whenever I skipped class, I found it hard to get back on track. Sadly, that has happened many times... PPS: I do not like the fact that there is no answer key! If you are like me and enjoy checking your final answers you will understand what I'm talking about. However, I can see why some professors prefer it this way, because it prevents cheating.

Good.

Very good book

I'm a physics major and use this book everyday. Great resource

I had great time studying, this book have good way of explaining the concept and have very god exercises. I totally love it and I definitely recommend it.

I generally prefer hardcover books over paperback, but given the price of this book its very hard to complain. The international fourth edition is identical to the standard fourth edition in almost every way. A few very minor differences include the chapter numbers being off by 1 (because the introductory chapter on vector analysis is labelled as chapter 1 as opposed to chapter 0), and several appendices missing from the back (though all that information is readily available online). Otherwise, the content is completely identical: all of the exercises are the same, and even the equation numbers match-up for easy reference. Overall, there's really no reason not to buy this book.

I used it in college and I'm so glad I did. Just bought me the kindle version so I can take it with me everywhere.

Not exactly easy to use for self study.

This is a very well written book in electrodynamics one of the best books in physics in the undergraduate level I ever read. It's good for self-study.

Nice refresher. Easy to understand.

I ordered a new book but got an old/used book.

Ho comprato questo libro per il corso di elettromagnetismo per la laurea in fisica alla Sapienza di Roma e vorrei cominciare subito questa recensione dicendo che è uno dei migliori libri su cui abbia mai studiato. Lo stile di scrittura di Griffiths è colloquiale (spesso molto divertente) e preciso. La trattazione matematica è una via di mezzo tra la classica trattazione da fisica 2 (ad esempio come quella utilizzata nei classici libri: Menccucini, Mazzolti, Halladay et al) e la rigorosissima trattazione del Jackson. Rimane comunque una trattazione che richiede buone basi di analisi vettoriale e concetti come la delta di Dirac, i polinomi di Legendre etc. Alcune dimostrazioni vengono fatte in maniera più rigorosa rispetto ai classici libri sopra citati, riporto ad esempio: la dimostrazione del teorema di Gauss che viene fatta tramite l'utilizzo della delta di Dirac e della funzione di Green per la divergenza, lo sviluppo in serie di multipli tradite le funzioni di Legendre ed altro ancora) Il capitolo sui potenziali elettrodinamici e la trattazione relativistica dell'elettrodinamica è a dir poco entusiasmante. Il libro contiene inoltre un buona introduzione ai concetti matematici che verranno utilizzati in tutto il libro, rimane comunque una trattazione molto breve ma sempre utile: ogni passaggio matematico meno chiaro in qualche dimostrazione (come possono essere ad esempio le uguaglianze vettoriali) viene richiamato al primo capitolo, dove è stato dimostrato. Mi sento vivamente di consigliare questo libro come uno studio più approfondito per gli studenti di fisica, matematica ed ingegneria (per queste ultime due, nel libro vengono trattati molti più argomenti di quanto sia richiesto per un corso base di fisica 2). Non vedo l'ora di comprare il libro di meccanica quantistica dello stesso autore, so che non mi pentirò. Per quanto riguarda la manifattura del libro è impeccabile. Io ho comprato quello con la copertina rigida e ne vale ogni centesimo, la stampa è perfetta, le pagine sono di carta molto spessa e plastificata, tranquillamente sottolineabile a matita.

This is a fantastic book, well written, and totally in line with my University course. Everything is explained in a detailed but concise manner, and it's a great aid to learning Electrodynamics. Recommended.

Electromagnetism by Griffiths is excellent in quality and quantity however , this particular edition has some omissions where a result from some equation from a previous chapter is used however ,it is not mentioned there hence we need to look into 3rd edition. I encountered this two times. The print quality and font size of this print is not much satisfactory.

Nice book . Tough in understanding

Has good exercises. Clear presentations. Has a good friendly presentation of Dirac's delta function. It's user friendly. The writer addresses the reader as if it were a private tutorial. Good for self study. Has a nice culmination in chapters 9, 10, and 11, Electromagnetic waves, Potentials and Fields and finally Radiation. Chapter 12 winds the book up with Special Relativity. Note that some of the exercises throughout the book have answers. No bibliography that I can see. However abundant footnotes to support various statements on the salient points of each section. This would be a third year course in a four year physics program, at least according to my experience. I need the review anyway, so I plan to work through the book. Also the book itself (hard cover ) is physically appealing. The book is not physically cumbersome to use and easily fits into a briefcase. Possibly a second volume might someday appear. Otherwise a nice book.

Me gusto como alumno y me gusta como profesor. La organización del libro es su punto fuerte, empieza con una introducción a la matemática que se va a emplear y después introduce nuevos elementos de forma gradual. El libro contiene ejemplos claros que permiten comprender los temas expuestos.

No hay nada que objetar al texto: es muy bueno, directo y fácilmente leible. Es una pequeña gran introducción que se la recomendaría a cualquier estudiante de segundo de carrera de física. Además incluye muchos ejercicios, cuyas soluciones se pueden encontrar en internet fácilmente. Por contra, la edición no corresponde: legible pero papel muy fino y, en mi caso, el libro vino con el canto bastante tocado por la prensa. Un error que otra editorial no hubiera pasado los estándares de calidad. Esta es la editorial Pearon india, por eso es tan barato. No lo voy a devolver valoro más el contenido que el continente.

This book is apt for those who are struggling with basic concepts and topics in electrodyanmics. Allround emphasis has been given on the concepts. There is not much mathematical formula or derivations. Although the book is nice but there are some doubts about the authenticity. The ordering of the chapters are somewhat absurd because I felt that the last chapter should have been in somewhere inbetween. But again it depends on readers to readers.

Un punto di riferimento per l'elettromagnetismo. Completo di applicazioni, elettrodinamica relativistica e di un breve cenno alla relatività ristretta. Presente anche un'introduzione matematica che riassume ciò che solitamente viene trattato ad Analisi 2. Giusto livello di rigore che però non mette in secondo piano gli aspetti concettuali ma al contrario fa veramente appassionare alla materia.

El contenido del libro sin duda es muy bueno (Lo que se espera de un Griffiths), es recomendable para los que estudiar electrodinámica. La calidad del libro es muy buena, es pasta dura y con hojas de muy buena calidad, suaves, blancas y gruesas. Aunque el precio es elevado es una buena opción comprarlo y evitar recibir un libro donde no se ven las formulas o la calidad de las hojas es muy mala.

One of the best book for electrodynamics, if you are undergraduate student. Don't miss the relativity section he use matrix from to solve the problem..... It's paper quality on this price is debatable but way in which the book gives you knowledge it deserves the price...

Some problems are omitted in this book . I do not know why? And also preface and other starting parts are removed. The book starts directly with the table of contents and chapters . Also, the chapters are not numbered . This is interesting experiment.

This is an extraordinary book. Professor Griffiths does know electromagnetism. The approach is rigorous, there is always a proof for every equation or theorem. The writing is fluent and the author often jokes and speaks directly to the reader. The problems are quite interesting, even the most simple one isn't trivial. There are continuous references to articles and publications, where electrodynamics problems are solved. I highly recommend this book.

Libro estremamente chiaro e che riesce a mantenere l'attenzione del lettore. La quantità di materiale presentato per quanto ho visto è più che sufficiente per una preparazione di base in elettromagnetismo (studio Matematica, non Fisica), dando una solida comprensione a chi si impegni seriamente a studiarlo. La qualità tipografica e della rilegatura non sono eccelse ovviamente, ma avendolo pagato €20 è ben più che ragionevole.

El libro es excelente, el único detalle es que llegó bastante maltratado, aconsejo que los empaquen de manera que no queden doblados y resistan el viaje.

this edition is Bad, please Go for 3 rd edition, in this edition Only Topic hedding is given, For particular topic reference its difficult to search the whole book, page quality is also bad

Excellent with fundamentals and advanced concepts, illustrated too. Best for all age groups at this cost.

Dont buy books from amazon. They are selling cheap quality books.

Good explanations by a legend. All rounder for an undergraduate student. Just go for it.

awesome books for deep knowledge, i loved it Only drawback is less number of solved examples

I guess this is cool, but my wife isn't any closer to making a robot to pick up our dogs' poo. I ask her if that's a thing that she's gonna do, but she said that's not what she's learning to do. I'm just saying that if we're paying all this money to educate her about all these esoteric sciences, there should be some short term payoff. Seriously, I just want the pooper scooper 2000, I'd even settle for calling it p00b0t MK1. I don't think these requests are outrageous, but she just rolls her eyes.

bought the paperback and found out by careful comparison that it is NOT the same content as USA edition. Chapters are different order, problems and figures different numbers and so on. Fine for reading, but won't work if you re supposed to buy this for a class that expects the hardcover (correct) version. Avoid the cheaper "international" version that incorrectly says it has the same content!

I especially enjoyed the derivation of the electromagnetic field of an arbitrarily moving point charge and the derivation of the electromagnetic field of a point charge moving with constant velocity by eliminating the retarded time. This was in the last chapter Potentials and Fields. The emphasis is on the physical fields E and B rather than on the constituent fields D and H. For instance, the magnetic field of a uniformly magnetized sphere is obtained by using the bound current density curl M and the bound surface current M x n. Electromagnetic fields in matter are given a cursory but well-presented treatment. Everything is explained and tied together well. For instance, Ampere's Law and div B=0 are derived from the Biot-Savart law. Explanations of how what physically happens is the same regardless of what frame of reference is used to do the calculations are well done. The derivation of the stress energy tensor in the chapter on Conservation Laws is also well done. The transformation of the fields under a Lorentz transformation are obtained and the 4-vector potential Au and the field tensor Fuv are presented in the chapter Electrodynamics and Relativity near the end of the book. There are many entertaining carefully carried out calculations that prove a point. For instance, in one reference frame a long wire carries a current but is uncharged and creates a magnetic force that creates a force on a point charge moving parallel to the wire. But in the reference frame moving with the point charge, the magnetic field exerts no force but there is an electric field created by the fact that the positive and negative charges in the wire have different Lorentz contraction factors so that in this reference frame the wire has a linear charge density and creates an electric field which creates the same force (when appropriately Lorentz transformed) upon the point charge. The author also shows that a rectangular current loop in a constant uniform electric field parallel to one side of the loop has a linear (“hidden”) momentum.

My book is missing the entire set of reference equations on the inside of the front and back cover. It's not a major issue, but I find it weird and suspicious that a book printed by the official publisher is missing parts of the book, and then for this not to be stated in the description. Yes, this is much cheaper and it's very convenient to pay this price, but inaccurate descriptions due to missing or incorrect statements about the product are still wrong and not fair to the customer. It doesn't matter how small these things are. I'm not the only person who has had this problem. But other than that, the book seems fine and doesn't seem to be missing anything else. But it seems some people buying the paperback edition are encountering MUCH more extreme cases of inaccurate descriptions. It lost one star for for missing part of the book, but lost two more for its failure to notify the customer on various aspects of this version of the text.

Book has so far worked - it's as described by the seller. Keep in mind that this is for an international 4th edition, which is more or less identical to the normal 4th edition. I ordered the paperback version, and received the one with a red/orange strange attractor image on the cover, not the lightning strike cover that shows up when viewing the Amazon images in detail (the lightning-strike cover book seems to be the one causing issues, not this one). So rest assured buying this paperback version.

This is a review for the international edition. It totally skips half of chapter 3 and replaces pages with those from chapter 1. Other then that it is right. My friend's international edition does NOT do this. I If you need a cheep copy, get it. Just check that the pages are correct before the return window closes. Other then that it is a good value, so 2 stars not 1.

After reading a few other ENM books, I've come to appreciate Griffiths Introduction to Electrodynamics. By far the most insightful and easiest to digest. Even though he skips a few steps here and there in proofs which can be a nuisance unless you do the proofs yourself, Griffiths makes it as easy as possible to follow through the material. If you want to learn Electrodynamics, buy this book. Note: This book is the Indian version and some problems are different and the chapters aren't in the same order.

This is a classic text for a reason. In this book, Griffiths is easy to comprehend, witty, and gives a great formal introduction to classical electrodynamics. The exercises range from simple to thought-provoking, but never impossible and there’s plenty of great additional commentary about the development of electrodynamics and topics for deeper exploration.

I first was sent what seems to be a very poor reprint of the book where the binding falls off the spine, and cracked the first time I opened the book. No reference formula in the front or back cover and the paper is not your usual textbook paper with very low quality. I got sent a new copy and the difference in quality is remarkable, the new copy also contains the reference formulae in the front and back covers and has much better paper. So just be careful! don't be afraid to return it and hopefully you won't be as unlucky as I was!

This book is a traditional type textbook for an introductory electromagnetic course. The quality of the contents is very good. It covers all the standard subjects necessary for first time learners of electrodynamics. But, It lacks fascinating to read this book: a good bread-and-butter textbook.

If you do not need this for a college course, do NOT buy it. This piece of garbage is made to make you feel stupid and confuse you, it isn't meant to teach you anything.

Fits just like I figured. It was a little hard getting the old connectors off but that's because the range is so old. Make sure to unplug the range or kill the breaker. If the light comes on when you open the oven door , STOP!

Day 1 and the book is off the spine already. It's held intact by the front page. I'll probably return it.

It is a very poor print. The chapters are not in order. The chapter numbers do not correspond to the index. It seems like a bad photocopy of a bunch of books.

EM 1 was probably the hardest course I took through my undergrad program. This is partly due to a very tough instructor, and part due to a very tough book. This book, as with Griffith's QM book, leaves quite a bit for the reader to determine on their own (or get from their instructor). However, as the chapters progress, the material is more satisfying and you gain a very high appreciation for the topic. We finished chapters 1-7 in 1 semester, and 8-12 in the next semester. The second semester was by far MUCH more interesting than the first. If you have struggled and survived through the first half of the book, don't cut yourself short and just power through the rest (or take the next course if it's offered). You will learn so much about real-world EM applications, and the very bizarre (and beautiful) universe around you! I was going to take a second semester of CM instead of this course (which covered chapters 8-12), and I am so glad I took EM 2 instead!!!

Griffiths' text provides a strong foundation to any aspiring physicists understanding of electrodynamics. The proofs within this text are extremely well done and Griffiths does a phenomenal job of breaking down the concepts into easily understood steps. If your school does not use this text, you should recommend it to your professor or use it as a supplemental text.

The cover surfaces are completely blank and missing Griffith's equation tables, and the binding is cracked and very poorly done. Will definitely be returning this.

Wow! Such a good price for this textbook, it came in perfect condition. I would definitely order again, very happy with this purchase.

This is an excellently written text book on the field of classical electrodynamics. Very thorough!

The book is helpful. I suffered a lot in the class but the book helped me stay in track. There were a few times it was hard to follow

Good content from Griffiths, but Pearson did a lousy job of the physical construction of the book. It is already falling apart after one semester of use. Really cheaply put together.

The book itself is written so well. Griffiths truly has a talent for explanation. But this particular product does not have the formulas on the inner covers like the version most of my classmates have. It's the same edition and everything, but there's no way I would have know before buying this. It's inconvenient.

Saved me a whole lotta money, thanks!

Very clear and concise about the necessary topics. Cuts out unnecessary fluff and explains well.

one of the best electromagnetism book that I have ever read

The book is in a good condition!

I am reading this alongside the text by Ohanian and this is a bit lower level. The explanations of how to do problems are much better but Ohanian is far superior at explaining what is going on physically and mathematically. This book is good to have because Ohanian uses CGS units so if I have a need for an equation in MKS I can pull it out of this book already having understood the material I learned in Ohanian. I would say use both in tandem.

Great book.

Great text, very well written and easy to understand and read.

Seriously, Griffiths can do no wrong. He knows his stuff and writes very well - as if you are having a discussion with him. He can also be entertaining in his writing and many times I caught myself laughing at things he said (how many people would put in a textbook that an integral is 'cute'). The writing is great and the problems are challenging.

I guess this is cool, but my wife isn't any closer to making a robot to pick up our dogs' poo. I ask her if that's a thing that she's gonna do, but she said that's not what she's learning to do. I'm just saying that if we're paying all this money to educate her about all these esoteric sciences, there should be some short term payoff. Seriously, I just want the pooper scooper 2000, I'd even settle for calling it p00b0t MK1. I don't think these requests are outrageous, but she just rolls her eyes.

bought the paperback and found out by careful comparison that it is NOT the same content as USA edition. Chapters are different order, problems and figures different numbers and so on. Fine for reading, but won't work if you re supposed to buy this for a class that expects the hardcover (correct) version. Avoid the cheaper "international" version that incorrectly says it has the same content!

I especially enjoyed the derivation of the electromagnetic field of an arbitrarily moving point charge and the derivation of the electromagnetic field of a point charge moving with constant velocity by eliminating the retarded time. This was in the last chapter Potentials and Fields. The emphasis is on the physical fields E and B rather than on the constituent fields D and H. For instance, the magnetic field of a uniformly magnetized sphere is obtained by using the bound current density curl M and the bound surface current M x n. Electromagnetic fields in matter are given a cursory but well-presented treatment. Everything is explained and tied together well. For instance, Ampere's Law and div B=0 are derived from the Biot-Savart law. Explanations of how what physically happens is the same regardless of what frame of reference is used to do the calculations are well done. The derivation of the stress energy tensor in the chapter on Conservation Laws is also well done. The transformation of the fields under a Lorentz transformation are obtained and the 4-vector potential Au and the field tensor Fuv are presented in the chapter Electrodynamics and Relativity near the end of the book. There are many entertaining carefully carried out calculations that prove a point. For instance, in one reference frame a long wire carries a current but is uncharged and creates a magnetic force that creates a force on a point charge moving parallel to the wire. But in the reference frame moving with the point charge, the magnetic field exerts no force but there is an electric field created by the fact that the positive and negative charges in the wire have different Lorentz contraction factors so that in this reference frame the wire has a linear charge density and creates an electric field which creates the same force (when appropriately Lorentz transformed) upon the point charge. The author also shows that a rectangular current loop in a constant uniform electric field parallel to one side of the loop has a linear (“hidden”) momentum.

My book is missing the entire set of reference equations on the inside of the front and back cover. It's not a major issue, but I find it weird and suspicious that a book printed by the official publisher is missing parts of the book, and then for this not to be stated in the description. Yes, this is much cheaper and it's very convenient to pay this price, but inaccurate descriptions due to missing or incorrect statements about the product are still wrong and not fair to the customer. It doesn't matter how small these things are. I'm not the only person who has had this problem. But other than that, the book seems fine and doesn't seem to be missing anything else. But it seems some people buying the paperback edition are encountering MUCH more extreme cases of inaccurate descriptions. It lost one star for for missing part of the book, but lost two more for its failure to notify the customer on various aspects of this version of the text.

Book has so far worked - it's as described by the seller. Keep in mind that this is for an international 4th edition, which is more or less identical to the normal 4th edition. I ordered the paperback version, and received the one with a red/orange strange attractor image on the cover, not the lightning strike cover that shows up when viewing the Amazon images in detail (the lightning-strike cover book seems to be the one causing issues, not this one). So rest assured buying this paperback version.

This is a review for the international edition. It totally skips half of chapter 3 and replaces pages with those from chapter 1. Other then that it is right. My friend's international edition does NOT do this. I If you need a cheep copy, get it. Just check that the pages are correct before the return window closes. Other then that it is a good value, so 2 stars not 1.

After reading a few other ENM books, I've come to appreciate Griffiths Introduction to Electrodynamics. By far the most insightful and easiest to digest. Even though he skips a few steps here and there in proofs which can be a nuisance unless you do the proofs yourself, Griffiths makes it as easy as possible to follow through the material. If you want to learn Electrodynamics, buy this book. Note: This book is the Indian version and some problems are different and the chapters aren't in the same order.

This is a classic text for a reason. In this book, Griffiths is easy to comprehend, witty, and gives a great formal introduction to classical electrodynamics. The exercises range from simple to thought-provoking, but never impossible and there’s plenty of great additional commentary about the development of electrodynamics and topics for deeper exploration.

I first was sent what seems to be a very poor reprint of the book where the binding falls off the spine, and cracked the first time I opened the book. No reference formula in the front or back cover and the paper is not your usual textbook paper with very low quality. I got sent a new copy and the difference in quality is remarkable, the new copy also contains the reference formulae in the front and back covers and has much better paper. So just be careful! don't be afraid to return it and hopefully you won't be as unlucky as I was!

This book is a traditional type textbook for an introductory electromagnetic course. The quality of the contents is very good. It covers all the standard subjects necessary for first time learners of electrodynamics. But, It lacks fascinating to read this book: a good bread-and-butter textbook.

Exceptional. And Griffiths is surprisingly humorous.

Looks like this edition has been refreshed. So far the price is ~$13 cheaper than the previous edition. Here's a list of changes: [...] New To This Edition *Edits to the entire text have clarified arguments and eliminated ambiguities. *New problems and new worked examples appear throughout, while selected unsuccessful ones have been eliminated. *All 450 figures have been reviewed for accuracy and updated where necessary. *A new section on magnetic work helps to eliminate teachers' misconception that magnetic forces do not work. The new section fully explores the actual mechanism in cases where magnetic forces are actually working. *Erroneous passages have been corrected. In particular, misleading copy (specifically the treatment of "hidden momentum") has been fixed. *Citations of recent literature appear throughout for those who wish to pursue a particular topic in greater depth. This literature helps reinforce the point that electrodynamics is a vibrant and dynamic field, even after 150 years. The book is easy to follow, it presents the subject matter in a well formatted fashion.

The binding of the book was horrible. The book was falling apart the instant I got it. I can also tell that this isn't a new product since it looks like somebody already mended the book's binding with some old paper. I know this is the case since the paper they used to reattach the binding has some derivative formulas. What kind of cheap excuse is this for a textbook? This is just pathetic.

Fantastic text for learning Electrostatics and Electrodynamics.

Amazing book for undergraduate EM

some of the papers are printed very poorly, but for 14 bucks its great!

It explained concepts in a consistent and intuitive manner. It was honest and not deceptive, and had many good problems.

It's good to get the low price edition book. I am very glad. Tahnk you.

For Masochists only...

Good

book in poor conditions, despite being new.

The listing for books should be consistent. This is the Asian edition, which means the pages are extremely thin. Book was cheaply made. Sellers able to make big profit because the Asian edition retails for $15.

Excelent book

The content is very good, and there are some minor but important corrections and improvements over the previous edition. However, the binding quality is absolutely horrible. The book fell apart almost instantly, but not before the window to return it had elapsed. Since I keep all of my textbooks for my reference bookshelf, this is extremely disappointing.

This is an excellent survey of Electrodynamics. It is well written, has excellent examples and is an excellent reference book for those of us who have to review the basics from time to time.

The paperback version is falsely advertised as the same as the hardcover. Although they contain the same material, the page numbers and the problem numbers are different which makes it extremely difficult to follow your professor in class when he/she is using the hardcover version. This needs to be made painfully aware to the customer before they make their purchase, or else there will be returns (and not even for the full price you paid for if you have to pay for your own shipping).

A CLEAR BASIC CONDENSED GOOD BOOK OF PHYSICS . THANK YOU SO MUCH

This book was a lifesaver for understanding thermodynamics!

Classic textbook. Arrived quickly unlike other sellers I have had experience with. Will order again.

Recommended reading. My son likes it.

Excellent book, very well written and clear. The examples are very enlightening and the whole thing is very easy to follow. Would have been 5 stars if it were not for the fact that the first three chapters of the book detached from the spine within the first month. The book seldom left my desk in all that time, and the only stress I put on the binding was opening it to read it. Another textbook I ordered at the same time (different publisher) and which has received the same treatment is still in mint condition.

Okay everyone, I love this book, I really do. Even though I cried countless tears over it. Or maybe it was just my teacher? I learned a lot from ACTUALLY reading and mentally digesting this book. It was rough, but worth it. -Your local Astrophysicist

Griffiths made a great job writting this book, with his informal way of explaining things everything is simpler without loosing much rigor or oversimplifying things. There are plenty of examples provided, and many analogies with familiar problems or situations to make the subject easier to grasp. Its important to understand that this book is strictly theoretical, meaning that its not engineering oriented, you will not find chapters on topics engineers might be interested in, namely transmission lines, antenas and such. There are really no engineering applications on the problems or topics covered throughout the book, the only one I can remember of is waveguides and they are really briefly covered in a hypothetical way basically to describe TM, TE modes and such. So bottom line: this is strictly a physics book, but a really good one! The one thing I never really liked is the notation the author uses, he claims that using weird characters simplifies things up, however I noticed that using weird unconventional characters just helps to confuse the reader, things are harder to remember and you have to keep going back to check what a specific symbol means, it didnt make sense to me even if the author's argument claims to be much more efficient. I own several books on EM, namely: -Engineering Electromagnetics-- by Hayt -The Electromagnetic Field-- by Shadowitz -Elements of Electromagnetics-- by Sadiku -Fundamentals of Engineering Electromagnetics -- by Cheng -Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics-- by Ramo -Principles of Electrodynamics- by Schwarz -Electromagnetism-- by Grant -Physics Vol. 2 (Electromagnetism)-- by Resnick -Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics-- by Fawwaz -Advanced Engineering Electromagnetics-- by Balanis -A Student's Guide to Maxwell equations-- by Fleisch ...and of course this book by Griffiths, and thats not counting the textbooks on electromagnetic subtopics such as microwaves, antennas, etc, and let me tell you that this book by Griffiths coupled with Fleisch's guide to Maxwell equations is in my most humble opinion the best introduction to get a solid understanding in electromagnetism, if you are an engineer and would like to know about engineering applications there are other books you can use, since this book by Griffiths covers no engineering applications, the one by Balanis and Ramo are quite good, but before you move on to those you need a solid foundation and thats what Griffiths provides. As for the physical book itself, I have one major complaint, I didnt like the coating material used on the covers, I dont know if everyone is in the same situation I am or maybe my book has a defect, but mine came in with a matte velvet-like coating on the covers, the book looks ok but it just sticks to my fingers, feels like theres a layer of grease or adhesive on the top of each cover, my fingers felt sticky everytime I grabbed the book. After a lot of elbow grease and some isopropyl alcohol I managed to get rid of the coating, now the book has the standard glossy cover every other hardcover book has, althou it doesnt look as good, at least I can hold it without getting that greasy feeling on my fingers. Also, I must agree with the other reviewers: the book is breaking apart!