Principles of Quantum Mechanics /

When the first edition of Principles was published (CH, Jan'81), it was greeted as a refreshing departure from the tired rehashes of the familiar classic texts. What was true of the first edition is still true of this latest one. This is a thoroughly modern book worthy of consideration as a resource for advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate quantum courses. Shankar adopts a deductive approach to his subject, starting with a mathematical review of linear vector spaces followed by a survey of classical mechanics (including Poisson brackets) and its difficulties with describing the quantum scale. He introduces the axioms of quantum mechanics before launching into the main lessons. Though grounded in the principles, the book is filled with examples. This approach presents the material in a comprehensive, logical, and self-contained manner but makes the book quite long--simple one-dimensional quantum mechanics must wait until page 151. The best feature of this book is Shankar's efforts to integrate advanced topics, such as the path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics, into an introductory work. This empowers the successful student to engage modern research topics sooner, but at the cost of giving the book the character of a graduate-level text. Highly recommended for academic libraries. Upper-division undergraduate; graduate. J.A. McNeil; Colorado School of Mines