Quantum Mechanics: book recommendations

[@antonzhuzhlev]

For the german speaking part of the audience I can recommend Atom- und Quantenphysik by Haken & Wolf. It is a very good textbook which focuses more on the (so to say) experimental part of QM. For me it provided a very good understanding of what the math in Griffths and Sakurai actually means as well as a lot of applications/experimental examples. But it isn't as math heavy as for example Sakurai, so for a complete understanding it must be complemented by a book that focuses more on the theoretical part

[@jkzero]

Thanks for extending this to other audiences. BTW, videos now are available in other languages, including German: Settings -> Audio track -> (choose language)

[@imPyroHD]

For people who are looking for a very rigorous and complete approach, from the ground all the way up to second quantization and even just a little further, you have the three volumes of "Quantum Mechanics" by Nobel laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji for a total of around 2500 pages i think. I recommend tackling those when you already have a decent understanding of the field and are looking to deepen and solidify your knowledge. They were originally written in french but im almost 100% sure that they have been translated. From my personal experience, the one and true way to learn QM is to start with very heavy maths foundations (you basically have to master linear algebra and need to have a good understanding of other topics like Fourier analysis) then read QM books in a progressive manner, from easiest to hardest (so start with something like Griffiths, then maybe Feynman then maybe Cohen-Tannoudji).

[@Asaad-Hamad]

Thanks for the great gift. I read two books only of this list and I hope you can summarize each one in your exquisite way of simplifying the topic so we can always watch these videos and keep our memories refreshed about the books we read and have glance at the others. With great channels like yours quantum became easy to comprehend science. Thank you again and again.

[@arthurzuchetti3341]

As a long term enthusiast of your work, I'm really glad that you're expanding your work beyond language limitations. I'm from Brazil, and one of the major difficulties I had during my college years was founding good physics content in Portuguese. Nowadays, this is no longer an issue for me, however most of my friends still not familiarized with English, so thank you for the new audio tracks, they will surely help your content reach the popularity it deserves!

[@jkzero]

I appreciate the comment; however, I have to be honest, this is a new feature of KZbin and I have not done anything, other than approving the languages, they deserve the credit. I am glad that the new feature can be useful. I checked the Spanish version and the translation is very accurate. The only issue is that sometimes names get translated, which can be a bit odd. Also, the AI-generated voice is a neutral voice rather than my own voice. The initial expectation was that KZbin would train the AI using the original voice of the creator, but that would be probably a huge endeavor. In any case, I hope that now the content can reach more people and hopefully KZbin will also make the feature available to old videos.

[@NichaelCramer]

Very nice presentation. Thank you. 1] If I might recommend one other book: Matt Strassler’s “Waves in an Impossible Sea” (more below). 2] The feature I like about Carroll’s books is his approach to the equations. That is, his presentation is focused on the relevant equations and math at an accessible level. So when the reader finishes the book s/he “won’t be able to a problem set” but they will have an extremely solid foundation for understanding what the equations are and “they do”. For me, the main strength of Strassler’s book is that compliments Carroll’s books in the sense that it while it contains virtually no equations, Strassler is extremely good at providing a superb, detailed -and more importantly accurate- “verbal” explanation of the physics; far above those of other “non-mathematical” popular books. A great book. 3] Also, you mention Sean Carroll’s excellent podcast (Mindscape). I would also point out that the interviews that Carroll does in various episodes provide excellent introductions to the author’s associated book (as a couple of examples, his interviews with Matt Strassler and Adam Becker/“What is Real”. For one thing, beside being informative in their own right, the interviews can give the reader a very good overview of the associated book, and can help them decide if they wish to dig into the book in more detail. 4] Finally, I was pleasantly surprised to see that you included Pais’s “Subtle is the Lord”. As I one described this book to a colleague “lt’s the only biography I know which is written at the level of Tensor Analysis.” ;-)

[@ricardoserra615]

I used Griffith's book in my undergraduate course. It's a direct and understandable approach to QM but quite dry. I'm not a physicist but a chemist and mathematician whose interest in QM is the modelling of reaction mechanisms.

[@joevostoch8768]

I graduated in 1981 with a BSME. I never had any classes that covered quantum mechanics. For most of my 36+ career I would hear of new breakthroughs credited to quantum mechanics. I decided to read books on quantum mechanics to see if my basic "education" had become outdated because of "new" physics. I read ~25 books on quantum mechanics over a period of about five years. They were equally divided, more or less, into your three categories. The only new physics discovered since my graduation that I read about in those books was that physicist thought that neutrinos had mass but it was too small to measure. All the "new" breakthroughs just turned out to be new applications of old physics so my basic education was still valid. When one of my nephews graduated with a PHD in chemistry a few years ago I asked him if he had taken any courses on quantum mechanics. He had not. Puzzling to say the least since all of chemistry can be explained by quantum mechanics. I have read Subtle is the Lord and it is a fantastic book. I am curious to know why none of Richard Feynman's books made your list? He has some great books like The Character Of Physical Law.

[@jkzero]

I personally found Feyman's Lectures hard to follow when I was an undergrad. Only after my PhD I dared to check them out, way more confident and with more experience. They are great, I just do not recommend them as entry-level books.

[@HarshT-g8v]

For people interested in history of development of QM I’d recommend Quantum Concepts in Physics: An Alternative Approach to the Understanding of Quantum Mechanics Hardcover by Malcolm Longair (For a historical treatment of other fields in physics : Theoretical Concepts in Physics: An Alternative View of Theoretical Reasoning in Physics by the same author). More formal books and for people interested in foundations Feynman’s lectures vol. 3 Quantum mechanics : A Paradigms Approach by David McIntyre Lectures on Quantum Theory: mathematical and structural foundations by Chris Isham Lectures on Quantum Mechanics by Steven Weinberg Quantum theory and measurement edited by Wheeler and Zurek Do We Really Understand Quantum Mechanics by Franck Laloe Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics by John Bell

[@tupublicoful]

Now I know why KZbin got me to your channel. All the books in your popular book category are some of my favorites books period, starting with “what is real”.

[@jkzero]

I am a slow reader but I recall that I devoured "What is real?"

[@sat25940]

Pleasantly surprised by the Shankar, Carroll-QFT, and Pais-Einstein recommendations! I'd also throw in Dirac's PQM (the first few chapters), Penrose's R2R, Maudlin's Quantum Theory, Lancaster's QFT for the Gifted, and Weinberg's Foundations of Physics. (P.S. - Since you mentioned the Einstein bio, would you also recommend the Bohr bio by Pais?)

[@jkzero]

I have not read Pais' book about Bohr, but since Pais was Bohr's assistant in Copenhagen and judging for his brilliant content presenting Einstein's work, I have the expectation that "Neils Bohr's Times" should be pretty good.

[@fortepianmistrz]

I highly recommend you to make a video about Davisson and Germer Experiment of 1927 and in 1928 by G.P. Thomson confirming the wave nature of electrons. It would be great to hear it from you about the historical context and working of experiment with those beautiful illustrations.

[@jkzero]

The Davisson & Germer/Thomson experiments are on the pipeline, I had to get to de Broglie first... that's coming

[@fortepianmistrz]

@jkzero Thanks 🙏. Also I think you would also include the Amazing Father and son work on X-Ray Diffraction (Lawrence Bragg and William Henry Bragg) Bragg law. Btw I am Looking forward to see it!

[@jkzero]

I cannot guarantee to be able to fulfill all the requests but I always open to collecting suggestions, thanks.

[@douglasstrother6584]

"Mathematics for Quantum Mechanics: An Introductory Survey of Operators, Eigenvalues and Linear Vector Spaces" by J.D. Jackson is a good, short read. He should have written a similar one for his "Classical Electrodynamics"!

[@jkzero]

Thanks for sharing, I learned recently that a "Jackson Quantum Mechanics" was published in 2023

[@douglasstrother6584]

@@jkzero I didn't know that! I'll check it out.

[@daviddikeman7423]

Gasiorowicz....I took his class long ago. Fantastic human being.

[@kr7412]

Love your Chanel, thanks for your amazing content this year!!

[@riyanalvi1541]

Amazing picks. Thank you for sharing!

[@lionpol2493]

For another fascinating math book, I would recommend 'Infinitesimal' by Amir Alexander. It’s not a textbook, but it’s definitely not just another pop science book either. It dives deep into the history of calculus, telling the story of the brave minds who pushed this groundbreaking idea forward-and the surprisingly intense backlash it got from people who hated it for its paradoxical nature. It’s a great example of how rigid, dogmatic thinking can hold back science, while more open-minded perspectives let it grow and thrive!

[@douglasstrother6584]

I used Sakurai in Grad School also. "Quantum Mechanics: Foundations and Applications" by Arno Bohm presents an interesting take on QM.

[@horax_64]

Thanks for all the amazing content!

[@alexandervoytov4966]

AlL my classes in QM back in 1980s were based on Landau books. My U was crazy to provide 1 semester QM class! How you can learn QM for 1 semester only? But QM was my favorite class and I spent tons of time with Landau's texts

[@jkzero]

I have to admit that I did try Landau books but I failed and I stayed away from them for years just like when you touch the hot stove as a kid and then never approached it again

[@alexandervoytov4966]

@ my degree belongs to the 1st half of 1980s, Soviet Union. Landau that time and in that country was only option. I tried to find alternative and get Fermi’s book. I failed on 1st pages to rush back to Landau. I agree, Landau is very difficult to read. I was able to do that with understanding Landau’s QM is my only option to learn the topic. There wasn’t alternative. With such mindset I was able to go through.

[@DenisTurcot-p8e]

@@alexandervoytov4966 A very good book . As all the others from Landau .

[@sirknightartorias68]

Great presentation Dr.Jorge Diaz 👏👏

[@seven_hundred-seven_hundred]

Come on... QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard Feynman.

[@jkzero]

Good one, I had to keep my list short so I was aware that I left many good one out

[@maydavidr]

​@@jkzeroQED is not just another good one. It is still the best book on the subject of quantum physics ever written for a general audience (no equations). Prove me wrong.

[@jameyhall5255]

Here's some others : A Student's Guide to the Schrödinger Equation by Daniel A. Fleisch Quantum Mechanics, Inception or Conception? : A Classical Preamble to Quantum Mechanics By Giuseppe Pileio Quantum Mechanics : A Paradigms Approach by David H. Mcintyre Quantum Mechanics (Vols 1,2,3) by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji Mathematical Concepts of Quantum Mechanics by Israel Sigal Quantum : Einstein Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality by Manjit Kumar The Quantum Mechanics Solver: How to apply Quantum Theory to Modern Physics by Jean Dalibard Decoherence and the Quantum-to-Classical Transition by Maximilian Schlosshauer Lectures on Quantum Mechanics by Steven Weinberg

[@abdou.b3259]

Thank youuuuuuuu sooo much ♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@padraiggluck2980]

Wow, very helpful, Dr. Diaz, thank you.

[@PauloRenatoRodriguesprr]

I just bought the first two books of Carroll's trilogy. The one missing is yet to be released, about Emergence and Complexity. I'm reading "Space, Time and Motion" slowly, because it is delicious. The ideas of physicists are the most interesting in the world to me.

[@jkzero]

I have not read the first one but I definitely will at some point. I look forward for the third one to come out.

[@InXLsisDeo]

For textbooks, there is also Albert Messiah, and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji textbooks.

[@jkzero]

I remember that Cohen-Tannoudji was the extra textbook during my first undergraduate course, lots of solved problems

[@PrincipiaScientifica]

To make the introduction to quantum mechanics smoother, I would also recommend reading a textbook on modern physics. I read Arthur Beiser's "Concepts of Modern Physics," which thoroughly covers the historical and conceptual prerequisites in the first four chapters. Starting from the fifth chapter, the book introduces very elementary quantum mechanics, making the transition to a dedicated quantum mechanics textbook much easier. I am currently using Griffiths' textbook, and taking a modern physics course beforehand helped me avoid feeling overwhelmed when introduced to Schrödinger's equation right off the bat.

[@douglasstrother6584]

I borrowed "Infinite Powers" from my local library. It is a great read.

[@kosmos5420]

I find it most informative to focus on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (e.g. from the excellent book by Travis Norsen) as soon as possible, instead of going too deep in abstract math or advanced calculations too soon. The world already has enough working physicists with too crude conceptual understanding of QM (or, to address the underlying problem, too little appreciation for the conceptual puzzles of QM). You might think it doesn't matter in scientific practice, but this is only true if "scientific practice = solving puzzles inside a working framework". Actual foundational progress, for example towards quantum gravity, will almost surely at least benefit from (and in my opinion outright demand) stronger investment in conceptual clarity. It's already quite baffling to see how unpolished the usual expert understanding of (non-)locality is. This is baffling because intuitions about locality certainly drive a lot of research in quantum gravity.

[@davidb2380]

Has anyone read Zwiebach's "Mastering Quantum Mechanics" ? It looks to have a different approach than others I have seen in that the first third of the book is at an undergraduate level, the next third repeats most of that material at roughly the graduate level and the last part is applications. The whole length is 1000 pages and at MIT they get three courses from the book.

[@Ensign_Nemo]

The first course is available as a series of lectures on KZbin, and is also available at MIT's OpenCourseWare. kzbin.info/aero/PLEAYkSg4uSQ0Cae6TXNz3VQ0CkzB8rA8W

[@davidb2380]

@@Ensign_Nemo Thank you

[@RutvikPhatak]

I was able to guess Griffiths, Gasiorowicz and Shankar just from the blurred covers - not sure how i missed sakurai though

[@primenumberbuster404]

Sakurai was the first one that popped in my head.

[@PauloRenatoRodriguesprr]

I read the Strogatz's book and it is really amazing. This guy is a genius!

[@fenderlead1]

This is great! Thank you!

[@mastershooter64]

1:05 ah yes Gravitation by Misner Thorne and Wheeler, my favorite pop-sci book* *I just noticed the footnote

[@jkzero]

I knew some viewers would comment about the appearance of the "MTW phone book" when talking about pop-sci so I included the footnote

[@davidcarr2216]

Great stocking fillers for nerds. I shall have a look see. Thanks and Merry Christmas Dr Jorge.

[@jkzero]

I hope Santa brings you some of these

[@prototropo]

Thank you for your support of local bookstores! I plead with all ethical people--do not patronize Amazon, for so many reasons they can't even be listed in the observable universe.

[@jkzero]

I am glad you found that little nudge relevant.

[@kummer45]

Walter Greiner, enough said.

[@jkzero]

I really liked most of the Greiner series, very nicely presented worked examples that are very useful.

[@TonyDorhauer]

From X-rays to Quarks by Emilio Segre is another great historical book with some good derivations in the appendices

[@jkzero]

Thanks for sharing

[@maydavidr]

​@@jkzeroI second that. It is actually part of a two book set. The second book is From Falling Bodies to Radio Waves.

[@santiagomartinez3417]

Do you know the books from Jagdish Mehra? It is an historical account.

[@lorenzobarbano]

Can you do one for quantum field theory as well?

[@jkzero]

I hope to get there at some point

[@dynapb]

Just last week I decided to drop the big bucks on the eBook "Quantum Theory at the Crossroads - Reconsidering the 1927 Solvay Conference". I had been reading the free copy on arxiv but cannot save quotes with actual text, just get question marks. I figured it would be good to see what really happened at the 5th Solvay Conference for myself. I really like de Broglie (& Einstein & Schrodinger) and his desire for a realistic interpretation of QM. It's too bad that this conference (Bohr, etc) ruined his creativity and caused him to go the standard QM route. I think that if he would have continued to work alone and with his brother Morris, and maybe some others (above), quantum theory would be much further ahead today.

[@jkzero]

I find Louis de Broglie's work totally misunderstood and undervalued. Although pilot-wave theory is an incomplete description of nature, it was a brilliant idea and only the "matter wavelength" survived in textbooks. Most people can name the "de Broglie's wavelength" but very few really know how de Broglie discovered it. You might like my next video, I will attempt to change this because I have not found a single video explaining in full de Broglie's proposal.

[@Ghetto_Bird]

Enthusiast here, I have all of Leonard Susskind's books and I can 100% confirm that they are indeed phenomenal for those that want more than popular science yet less than college textbooks.

[@jkzero]

They are a great balance. Did you notice that all the covers make a continuous diagram?

[@physicsbutawesome]

1:40 "extra points for cat on the cover" - tbh, that's the mai reason I still haven't bought Griffiths QM: I loathed the cover art. I don't know, it just feels so silly... even though it's supposed to be a really decent textbook.

[@gabrielamici5540]

What do you think about Cohen Tanouji’s quantum mechanics textbooks? I find them very complete due to the large number of complements to each chapter, It is my main source of study in undergraduate quantum mechanics. btw, thanks for all the great recommendations!

[@jkzero]

I used Cohen Tanouji’s textbooks during my undergrad course on QM. I found it great for worked examples, sometimes a bit overwhelming but a great reference.

[@robertharper3057]

great video as always. sent you some coffee's :)

[@jkzero]

Awesome thank you! I know I have said this already but thank you so much for your very generous support.

[@robertharper3057]

@@jkzero my pleasure. i had good teachers but nothing like this :)

[@ProfessorBeautiful]

Thank you so much. I have read Carroll's Quanta and Fields 3 times. So far.

[@jkzero]

So it is safe to assume that you liked it

[@ProfessorBeautiful]

@@jkzero Verdad because I have enough math background and physics fan-boy exposure to mostly follow, grateful for the math, and yet slow to absorb into my brain.

[@fsdds1488]

My problem with Griffths is that he talk about the math only in the middle, it seems that he want to set up intuition before dealing with maths but it frustrated us a lot. And as a side note, our professor of QM class also decided to use Sakurai for introductory classes and since its the first time we deal with operators it's really hard to grasp its meaning, and our professor never bothered the properly explain what it is.

[@jkzero]

I can see the problem here. I was lucky enough to be exposed to QM only after two semesters of Mathematical Methods for Physics which was like having Calculus 4 and 5: complex analysis, partial differential equations, lots of Hilbert spaces and advanced linear algebra; so encountering quantum operators representing observables was a conceptual jump but they were not totally foreign.

[@er-klartmathnat794]

cohen tannoudji quantum mechanics

[@subhambanerjee3012]

Must read is Max Jammers's conceptual development of Quantum Mechanics

[@jkzero]

I would have to check this out, thanks for sharing

[@DrLogical987]

Great! I really appreciated Carroll's KZbin series on the biggest ideas. I just wish he wasn't wedded to simplistic reductionism for his more philosopause content

[@jkzero]

I agree, he can easily follow some tangents that I find hard to follow deeply

[@mohi2902]

How's book by Resknick and Eisberg Sir ?

[@heungsikjeong3697]

Sakurai is the best.

[@NotNecessarily-ip4vc]

My favorite quantum mechanics book is "the Monadology" by Leibniz.

[@supreetsahu1964]

Recs for thermo and statistical? Grad/ Post grad level

[@Celtics-x4w]

Leslie Ballentine’s book is good, I heard

[@hugopristauz3620]

good list

[@jkzero]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Yoseph-ph7hh]

Thanks!

[@Higgsinophysics]

The only DJ I want to listen to, is D.J. Griffiths

[@jkzero]

how about the duo D.J. Griffiths & J.D. Jackson?

[@eliseo6626]

El libro que recomiendo ampliamente es Quantum mechanics: concepts and aplications de Nouredine Zettilli, una joya.

[@jkzero]

Este no lo conocía, gracias por compartir

[@davidrandell2224]

QM classicalized in 2010. Forgotten Physics website uncovers the hidden variables and constants and the bad math of Wien, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Einstein, Debroglie, Planck, Bohr etc. So,no.

[@sirknightartorias68]

Bro casually shows Misner's Gravitation under the context of popular science books 😭😭

[@jkzero]

you missed the footnote

[@markborz7000]

Cohen-Tannoudji?

[@jkzero]

I used Cohen-Tanouji’s textbooks during my undergrad course on QM. I found it great for worked examples, sometimes a bit overwhelming but a great reference.

[@keenmankwok9821]

David Griffin hides many important concepts concisely and hastily in the solutions of problems or the small prints at the bottom of pages. Difficult 😮

[@pelasgeuspelasgeus4634]

You forgot Ali baba with the 40 thieves...

[@spamspamer3679]

Do you now Mastering Quantum Mechanics? by Barton Zwiebach it has a great introductory chapter about adding angular momentum

[@jkzero]

I am not familiar with this one; Zwiebach has an excellent online course on the MIT channel