Comment by bluish29 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bluish29 | Hacker News Reader

> Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson (essential). This is the bible of classical electrodynamics, and everyone who works through either loves it or hates it (I loved it).

I agree that there is a division between who loves that book (like the author) and the majority of the graduate students who had nightmares (and sometimes still gets). I like this goodreads review of the book [1]

> A soul crushing technical manual written by a sadist that has served as the right of passage for physics PhDs since the dawn of time. Every single one of my professors studied this book, and every single one of them hates it with a passion. While I've no intention of becoming a professor, I still wonder, will my colleagues also inflict this torture on their students? Will the cycle be perpetuated ad infinitum? How many more aspiring physicists will we leave battered and bruised at the gates of insanity before switching to a textbook that seeks to make electrodynamics clear and intuitive rather than a mind-numbing trip through the seventh circle of hell?

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1266180525

* personal note: If this book is really the bible of classical mechanics, then I'm atheist.

It is interesting that 2 years later the same reviewer changes their mind a bit:

> Now, a few years after writing that review, I must return to say that as much as I hate this book, it's probably the best textbook that I have. I constantly return to it to reteach myself basic concepts or math. The problem with the text is that in order for it to be useful, you pretty much have to already understand the material. It's a dense, technical manual that, when paired with an easier to understand text such as Griffiths, grants tremendous power. Don't get me wrong, if there is a hell, I personally hope John David Jackson is burning in it right now, but I also have to tip my hat to him

Well yes, but curious what book you would recommend instead for graduate electrodynamics? Note that she already recommends first studying Griffith's Introduction to Electrodynamics at the undergraduate level (and that one is a true pleasure to read imho).

I'm happy that many professors start to use Zangwill's Modern Electrodynamics [1] textbook. It seems more focused on explaining things and don't assume that you know too much (which you usually have no idea if you should have known something or you just an idiot) like Jackson.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521896975/

From what I've heard, the value of Jackson is not the EM you'll learn, but the mathematical techniques you'll learn, which are widely applicable beyond EM.

Zangwill should be the new Jackson. Covers mostly the same problems and topics but you can actually get through it.

the author's IQ is high enough that I don't think this opinion is applicable to anyone reading it

Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson (essential). This is the bible of classical electrodynamics, and everyone who works through either loves it or hates it (I loved it).

If you're smart enough that advanced college physics comes as easily as learning to talk, I guess this would be true. The author of this guide is such a huge outlier in every respect of life. I have seen and read many smart people and she's easily in Witten or Tao territory of just being otherworldly smart. I don't think she ever encountered anything being hard. Jackson for her is like a walk in park, which is otherwise regarded as a formidably hard text.

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