Physics Book Reviews

 The first edition of Shifman’s Advanced Topics in Quantum Field Theory was a welcomed addition to the physics literature as well as a wake-up call. The first edition’s claim to fame was that it was the first text for a generation to bring all the cutting-edge studies in quantum field theory (with a specific emphasis on non-perturbative QFT) into a singular tome. Previously, many of the topics within the book were either contained exclusively within impenetrable monographs; or annoying absent from all written books and contained solely within research papers. Even though this text is not an exhaustive exercise in pedagogy, it holds the hand of the reader much more firmly than other books of its kind. Moreover, this leads nicely to another strength of the text- the fact that it is not a monograph. The purpose of this book is very much so to induct the reader into the strange world of research-level quantum field theory without assuming too much. This is a nice contrast from the ...

Graduate-level electromagnetism has always been somewhat of a marmite subject among those who have studied it. A great score of graduates have grown to hate the subject; foregoing any discussion on the teaching ability (which of course does matter) of the lecturer, we arrive at the uncomfortable truth that most textbooks on the subject are far from instructive. Electromagnetism at a graduate level is made difficult by the superposition of two parts; the first is the introduction of vastly new (and to the student positively alien) material, with the second being the application of previously (mostly) known mathematical techniques in an unfamiliar setting. Most textbooks on the subject tend to be unnaturally skewed towards the prior (as opposed to the latter) of the two, choosing to spend their capital on justifying the existence of the new material introduced at the graduate level. This is of course no sin, the aim of any graduate course on electromagnetism is to expose the uninitia...

  Who is the greatest teacher of physics from the 20 th century? Subjectively, this is of course a rather puzzling and hard question to answer objectively. A great many would name the high school teacher who influenced them into pursuing physics further up the profession; a university lecturer who inspired them; a guiding textbook who changed their whole perspective, or perhaps (for the more cynical) even the proverbial school of life itself. Narrowing the scope of the question, we arrive at a more objective question; who is the greatest teacher of theoretical physics of the 20 th century? Arguably, how would one distinguish the greatest teacher of the last century, out of a huge pile of many excellent candidates? I argue that there are two parameters in which this can be judged: legacy and impact. An undergraduate (and even a greater score of graduate students), would argue Richard Feynman (of Feynman Lectures fame) is the candidate which suits both of the above criteria...