Customer Reviews

Quantum Field Theory

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This textbook is probably one of the most readable books on Quantum Field Theory. The level of formalism and mathematical complexity varies from chapter to chapter, which has its virtues and drawbacks. The chapters that are not too math-heavy are usually the more intelligible ones, and they present the otherwise fairly arcane material in a very accessible and physically-motivated fashion. On the other hand these chapters leave out a lot of calculation or just skim through those somewhat superficially. If you are trying to learn Quantum Field Theory so that you become proficient enough to pursue research in this field, then you may find this lack of detail frustrating.

One of the virtues of this book are the extended references that can be found at the ends of chapters. These refer both to the original research papers and other books that may cover the same material in more depth or with a different approach. These references are invaluable in their own right, and make this book a great resource to have.

The last chapter focuses on supersymmetry. This could be viewed as a somewhat controversial choice of topic to be included in a textbook that covers the fundamentals of quantum field theory. Supersymmetry, despite decades of theoretical investigation, so far has not yielded a single observable verification. There might be something in the claims of its proponents that it has a very appealing conceptual and mathematical structure, but even its simplest formulation that have any bearing on the real world are so complex that any traces of conceptual simplicity are irrevocably lost. However, whatever your feelings about supersymmetry might be, this chapter is valuable in its own right, since it gives a lot of interesting mathematics that are relevant to fermionic and bosonic fields in general.

One big problem that I have with this book as a textbook is a total lack of problems and exercises. As such is probably not well suited as a primary book for learning this material. Nonetheless, there are some detailed calculations of some important formal results, and these can be used in conjunction with other textbooks.

I would recommend this book to be used as a secondary study material for an introductory course on Quantum Field Theory. This way all of its strong points would be utilized, while its few weaknesses would not be an obstacle to fully absorbing otherwise very difficult material.

One of the basic questions in the education of theoretical physics is, what is a good way of introducing QFT and giving the student a taste of what is to come? In my opinion, this book offers a fine solution to this thorny problem.
There are many sides to this question; for example, there is the view that the students should be exposed to this vast topic in a complete and thorough way (for such a text, I HIGHLY recommend Weinberg's 3 volume set, which, if not commonly regarded as a classic yet, soon will be), and also there is the point of view that most of the students studying QFT are experimentalists, so they should first be exposed to how to calculate amplitudes and cross sections for useful processes as soon as possible (see Peskin-Schroder for an outstanding exemplification of this principle). Both of these points of view have strong arguments supporting them, and there are many other reasonable opinions that might be taken; perhaps this is an indication that there is not any one approach to this subject which is a good introduction for all, but rather that the student must choose intelligently which text he/she finds they are most comfortable with. However, I can say that for me at least, this book had just the right selection of topics and at just the right level to get me interested in the subject and to give me a taste as to what it would be like if I were to go into it in more depth (which indeed I did). Other reviewers are quite right in pointing out that there are several inaccuracies in this text; also in more than a few places the treatment is considerably less clear than it might have been (this is one of the main strengths of Weinberg's set; every last detail is crystal clear, and the physical reasoning in the derivations is very rarely muddled in the math). Perhaps in this sense, the book could have been better written, and just by this element of style, I probably would have rated this 4 stars. However, I think that these valid criticisms are more than offset by the overwhelming strength of the book:that it is truly inspiring. Several reviewers have gone over details; I shall not rehash these matters, but instead leave off with the statement that this book was the best introduction to QFT that I could have bought.

1)as other reviewers put, we cannot expect every thing from one source. but without doubt, this is a good buy.
2)this is not so pedagogic as the book seller's copy on the backcover. it needs some endeavor of course.
3)major flaw i noticed is only one: at page 150 the author mingled two different things i.e. (a)subsidiary condition which excludes unphysical state from consideration (b)re-definition of norm which brings the unphysical state into consideration.

This book reminds me of Sakurai's book Modern Quantum Mechanics, in that Sakurai manages to explain many topics in a very compact form, but is not always suitable
for beginners who need to actually see calculations and have every step justified
for them; i.e., it is a bit TOO intuitive (yes, you can be too intuitive). Intuition is great, but intuition should come from first doing calculations and proving things thoroughly, which is something this book just doesn't do.
Also, the outstanding pedagogy mentioned by some other reviewers here isn't so outstanding. Allow me to give an example - on page 63 Ryder defines the little group as the subgroup of the Poincare group which leaves a certain vector invariant. Then a few lines later he writes down a certain vector and adds: "what is its little group? It is clearly the rotation group, since this will have no effect on [the vector]" - hardly an explanation; this look more like a tautology to me. I'm not nitpicking - this is the sort of reasoning provided in many places in the book. In my opinion, it might be good for readers who are looking for an intuitive angle on things, but for people learning QFT for the first time a book such as Bjorken and Drell will do a better job, even if not as exciting.

You wouldn't want to rely on this as your only source for QFT, but it provides a really nice, easy to read, supplemental point of view to other more computation-oriented texts. Ryder's use of geometry and topology is also refreshing in shedding light on gauge theories and symmetry breaking. The chapters on Renormalization are less useful, however.

This is a perfect introduction book to field theory. Very Clear, physics and mathematics. Also provide some different approach like how to understand Dirac equation. highly recommend the beginners to read.

Normally I would have given this book a three-star rating if it weren't for the number of interesting topics that it presents that usually don't find themselves in a QFT book: topological aspects, supersymmetry, nice approach to Dirac's equation, derivation of reduction theorem from path integrals only.

The presentations are written with uneven quality. Ryder's treatment of supersymmetry is excellent as an introduction. The first chapter on the other hand is entirely forgetable. The mathematics is too loose and somewhat sloppy at parts. However almost every field theory text I've come across suffers from this criticism. (It would be nice to see a QFT book written for physicists but by a mathematician.) Explanations and insight into QFT are scant; the book focuses mostly on formalism. The best thing about Ryder is it covers a great amount of material in a short size (487 pages) and in a very readable form.

A very readable intro to QFT. After having tried a dozen or so different QFT books, this is the one that I eventually used. A nice feature is its emphasis on the path integral and its use in QFT. This book does not have any problems included. In order to gain some experience actually solving problems the book should be supplemented with another. I would recommend that Schwabl's "Advanced Quantum Mechanics" and Griffiths' "Introduction to Elementary Particles" be used in conjunction with Ryder. They complement the text perfectly. Also, you can't expect to learn QFT from only one source.

Of all the QFT textbooks I have surveyed, this is by far the most accessable and readable. It has an ideal balance between clear well-written text and carefully paced equations, without the usual "after some manipulation..." or "combining with the previous results and rearranging..." or the fearful "it can be seen that..." which usually conceal chasms in reasoning that require an hour or so's hackwork to establish. It is nicely self-contained, having short digressions to derive some mathematical or topological results without sending the reader to consult other sources for clarification. I still have the first edition for which my only minor quibble would be the rather frequent typo's in the formulae, but at least picking them out kept me alert. These may have been cleaned up in the later edition.

It is an introductory book on QFT. If you have no experience in QFT, it gives you much with easy reading. The way to indroduce a subject is as easy as one in Quamtum Mechanics. You can understand the book if you have fully know nonrelativsitic QM. The demerit of the book is to have no exercise problems. So you have to read other books to supplement your study on QFT.