Quantum Field Theory and Condensed Matter: An Introduction (Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics)

Shankar has brought yet another great book to the physics community. This book contains many models/topics that will expose the reader to many techniques used in condensed matter theory. The topics range from the Ising model, Majorana fermions, the renormalization group, and the quantum hall effect. The book has "Quantum Field Theory" in the title, and I think the reader should ideally have taken quantum field theory before trying to tackle this book. A reader who has the typical first year physics grad courses under the belt could probably still take away a lot by reading this book, but I think having exposure to the first semester of quantum field theory first will let the reader appreciate the insights offered by the book a bit more. I suppose the converse is true as well, but only to a strong beginning graduate physics student. Reading this book will help someone who never took QFT appreciate the framework QFT offers once/if he or she decides to take it. Personally, I learned aspects of field theory in a phase transitions course before I ever took a quantum field theory course, so I could see someone reading this before taking a QFT course. It will probably be more difficult than it needs to be, though. It will just be much easier to read this book and the concepts covered will appear more motivated/systematic if you have taken the first semester of QFT.In short, I think it is best to read this after you have learned the framework of QFT. I think it is best to read this book to see QFT techniques applied in condensed matter. Reading it to learn QFT and condensed matter theory simultaneously will only work for very studious and well prepared readers.Regardless, the book has many nice topics to help you add tricks to your physics toolbox. Worth a read if you are planning to go into this field of study.

I found the book well suited as a self learning tool.Prof. Shankar presents the material in a stimulating fashion.I am finding it difficult to follow the material because he switches back and forth between topics too much.I've had (because of my own limitations) to refer to Pathria's excellent Statistical Mechanics book as I cover thefirst Chapters of the book.I expect I will depend on additional references to supplement the Condensed Matter Chapters.

This is not the most comprehensive book on the market, but fortunately the chapters selected is not commonly found on other textbooks. The author does an fantastic job in delivering the materials selected.Even if you are already familiar with all the topics, you will likely still come across some cute and neat derivations and explanations. For newcomers, the exposition is very clear and heuristic. The author knows the exact amount of math to include, and it is very satisfying to complete the details.

The pedagogy is a bit different from previous works, but it's wonderfully supportive when combined with other relevant books.

This is possibly one of the worst textbooks I have ordered. It is riddled with typos, the problems are trivial at best, ill-posed at worst, and insulting to pay money for on average. Good exposition though, just find the pdf.

This is an incredibly good book.As a budding physicist, I absolutely find this book accessible without sacrificing rigor nor clarity.

It's the book, but an Indian copy. Wtf? Stop charging for a product that costs 3$ to make in India. Disgusting.

******************Update:. I changed my review from 3 stars to 5! This book is FABULOUS!!! I find myself constantly flipping back to it while working through other condensed matter texts (atland/Simons, Fradkin, and various papers). I find that anytime I'm confused from another source I can re-open Shankar and crystallize my understanding.This is definitely NOT a book that introduces one to condensed matter....it is a book that goes into how QFT APPLIES to condensed matterThe best thing I can say is that if you want to understand ising, renormalization, and bosonization then GET THIS TEXT (BUT study it along with more phenomenological condensed matter texts)*********************Caveat: im working through the international/paper back edition which is about 15 pages shorter (and 35$ cheaper!). Im not sure what is different between the 2 editions exactlyIn my opinion this is a weird book. Shankar is most excellent but he REALLY makes you work through this bookexpressions and ideas just appear out of nowhere without any explanation so you have to be a kind of mind reader.Ive found that this is an EXCELLENT companion to the latter part of pathria's stat mech book which gets into the firm details shankar is missing.I wouldnt call this an introduction....it seems to be good as an overview type book but if youre willing to work hard then it is worth it. In my opinion an introduction type texts offers a lot of motivation and clear exposition as to where things come from and why things are the way they are.The exercises are appropriate and vary in difficulty. Most of them are "fill in the steps" type....but even if you do all the exercises there are still holes to be filled by consulting references and other textsIn my opinion this book is missing some depth (apropos motivation/phenomenology). Maybe 150 more pages wouldve worked better and perhaps he fixes some things in the 2nd edition in the future.