Introduction to Electrodynamics

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!

Unlike the QM book that Griffith Wrote, this into to Electrodynamics is the best.

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.

It is a good introductory book on Electromagnetic Theory and serves as a useful guide for the subject at the undergraduate level.

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.

So, I dropped out of being a physics major in the late-90s...I am not 100% sure, but I think the class I dropped was using an older edition of this book. Fast forward a couple decades, and I realized the physics bug never completely left me. I bought this book for self study. It's absolutely EXCELLENT! Griffiths does an outstanding job of explaining everything, and the problems are very worthwhile (from easy to extremely challenging). Would absolutely recommend this book for anyone interested in self-study.

Griffiths never fails to explain things thoroughly, give some good problems, and make me cry tears of pain and joy at the same time.