Modern Electrodynamics

It is an excellent guiding text for developing a formal course in classical electrodynamics. The book is very well structured and very didactic. On some topics it can be complemented by Jackson's book.

So long Jackson. Any university physics program that doesnt hop on board this text within the mext 5 years has failed their students!Ive spent quite a bit of time cover to cover and i am thoroughly impressed.Jackson, of course, is as solid as they come but woe to those hoping for a modern understanding of ED.Zangwill accomplishes a much needed update.This book has something for everyone!Pursuing theoretical physics? CheckPursuing space physics? CheckPursuing materials science? CheckPursuing biophysics? CheckPursuing nano/quantum/macro optics? CheckYou will find applications and examples worked out for myriad fields and speciaties! The chapter exercises are challenging and apt. The author is not afraid of getting his hands dirty with details but not so much it becomes pedantic.My only criticism is that some of the sections can be muddy and confusing and id prefer 2 foot long margins.Im envious of all those who get to use zangwill for a graduate ED course as a main or supporting text.. Absolutely impressed. Worth every penny.

Zangwill's book is definitely not Jackson's book. There is some good and some bad to that statement. The best things about this book are that it is very straightforward, reads well, and above all it is very practical. The downside is that the book does not feel as thorough as Jackson's book and at times I have been left wondering "but why?".

A lot of older grad students were ragging on our year for not using Jackson. I think this book does a fine job, but emphasizes different things than Jackson.There are a few points I want to make, but I'll leave them to you to decide if they are pros or cons.First off, there isn't as large an emphasis on boundary value problems. On one hand, this is nice and keeps the mathematical headaches to a minimum. On the other hand, you don't have the same great mathematical resource and reference.Second, Zangwill doesn't have anything to say about converting between SI and Gaussian. The book is written in SI. Third, there are some things I've never heard of before that Zangwill discusses. For example, a fair amount of time is given to the magnetic scalar potential. These are interesting to hear about, but ultimately never used again in the book.Last, the problems span a ridiculous range from "banally easy" to "mind-shatteringly hard." It's often difficult to tell which the problem will be from a glance, so I often found myself spending too much time on easier problems, and not leaving enough time for harder ones. I give this book a 3/5, because it's not in anyway what I would consider an ideal text for a graduate EM class, but it does its job, and makes for a solid resource to supplement lectures.

After years and years of being force-fed Jackson, graduate students finally have another option to learn electrodynamics from. For a graduate electrodynamics text, the exposition is about as clear as it could ever get. The intricacies of each equation are explained thoroughly with enthusiasm, and, as a bonus, historical facts are included that give some context to the development of the subject. Plenty of examples are spread throughout each chapter, and they often involve real applications of the concepts at hand (cylindrically symmetric potentials act as electron lenses?). The one downside of the book is that, in spite of being quite thorough, the unique way Zangwill approaches the subject involved organizing topics in a way that makes learning from the book difficult for courses centered around Jackson's text. This is not a fault of the book however - more so the graduate courses that still cling to the tradition of using Jackson as first-year hazing. It seems that more and more universities are switching to Zangwill though, which is a good sign.

After a first read-through, I really enjoyed Prof. Zangwill's book. Chapter 8 "Poisson's Equation" was the biggest "lightbulb event" for me: the presentation of "The Green Function Method" is clear and well-motivated. The Physics is much more in the forefront of the mathematical tools in all the chapters.Problem 8.22 "Green Function for a Dented Beer Can" made me laugh in the context of this season (2019). "ZZZZZZZZ! STING 'EM!!", "GO, JACKETS!!"The Sources, References and Additional Reading at the end of each chapter are extensive and thought-provoking. Mastering any topic requires study of multiple perspectives: Jackson's "Classical Electrodynamics" and Zangwill's "Modern Electrodynamics" complement each other well.The historical inserts give compelling reminders that Physics is a human endeavor. I love that stuff.