Fundamentals of Physics II: Electromagnetism, Optics, and Quantum Mechanics (The Open Yale Courses Series Book 2)

After reading Shankar's Fundamentals of Physics last year, I couldn't help but get a feeling of satisfaction upon realizing that, in only a little over 400 pages, I had reviewed the essentials of introductory physics in stunning elegance. I credit that book with giving me an intuitive outlook on physics, something that has come in handy in my upper division physics classes.There's something oddly satisfying about Shankar's writing style and the clear expository manner in which he explains physics. Shankar has a way in which he can explain the essentials of something complicated, without compromising the depth of the subject. Hence, drawing once again on his prodigious skills as a teacher, his Fundamentals of Physics II covers not just the essentials of Electrodynamics and Magnetism, it goes above and beyond to even explain the role of electromagnetism in relativity.Among the other topics included in his masterful book, one can also find a few chapters in optics that contain a nice and neat introduction to the principle of least action. The section on quantum mechanics is very well written, and serves as a very neat introduction to the basic principles of quantum mechanics (for those interested, Shankar wrote another excellent book titled "Principles of Quantum Mechanics." A more advanced text, but worth the read). The mathematics throughout the book is not terribly challenging and will come in handy for future courses.Overall, I am quite satisfied with Shankar's latest entry into the Open Yale course series, as this is a worthy sequel to his previous Fundamentals of Physics textbook. I will be using his new book as a refresher before I take my first serious E&M upper division class at Cal Poly.For anyone who is looking to enhance their physics intuition and knowledge, one can never go wrong with Shankar.Update: Now that I have taken E&M I and E&M II and gotten A's in both classes, I can confidently say that Shankar was hugely helpful in my understanding of the subject. I will now be taking Quantum Mechanics and (you guessed it) I'll be using Shankar's masterful Quantum Mechanics textbook.Update II: Coming now back as a PhD student in 2021, after taking graduate E&M, Shankar was still a very useful reference to have! :)

This is a GREAT BOOK!Fundamentals of Physics II contains 3 main topics: Electromagnetism (Ch 1-15), Optics (Ch16-18), and Quantum Mechanics (Ch19-24).Each part is beautifully presented. Dr. Shankar is a great teacher! Some professors (I've had some) know the subject matter deeply but don't know how to teach it. Dr. Shankar has the gift of clearly teaching the subject matter and also unexpectedly throwing in tidbits of dry physics humor, both of which students thrive on. I'm a firm believer that a sense of dry humor, applied to physics, gives learning the added feature of entertainment! Shankar is a master at this!Its fun being able to watch the live classroom teaching on You-Tube from which the book is written. Especially fun is watching Shankar's interaction with his students.A separate website also contains support materials showing problem sets along with problem solutions. Some of the problem sets, however, didn't seem to correspond to the chapters in the book correctly. Nonetheless, a great book overall.

The second book in Dr. Shankar's introduction to Physics. I love this book and the first book in the series. I wish they were around when I was an undergraduate science major. I bought them to review my Physics which was pretty rusty. These books help get me back on track. I'm a nerd so when I say they are both just a plain good read I guess you may want to take that with a grain of salt. Dr. Shankar has a style that makes Physics interesting, approachable, and as I said a good read. Make sure you start with the first volume.

Wonderful elucidation by perhaps the most enjoyable physics lecturer since Feynman. If you’ve attempted the Feynman Lectures on Physics you’ve come to assume a dizzying number unexpected gems of insight will jump out at you that completely change your world view; Shankar’s gems are less disorienting, but really satisfying and his humor is subtle and lots of fun. I believe that, for each volume of the series, a companion volume with a large number of SOLVED problems to go along with the text would be an invaluable addition and push the ratings to five stars for each. The mathematics volume doesn’t really satisfy that need and often takes a little too much for granted with respect to the reader's background. His online lectures are really enjoyable. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, boxed set: The New Millennium EditionBasic Training in Mathematics: A Fitness Program for Science Students

The introduction to quantum mechanics is worth the price of the book by itself (I have not read the other parts yet). The author is an experimented teacher and it shows. He does not dumb down things one bit and at the same time he does not hide behind opaque mathematical formalism (no bras or kets, no emphasis on operators, etc.).

The second volume of Yale Professor Shankar's first-year physics video lectures available on U-Tube, Yale, and elsewhere. Dr. Shankar's theoretical lectures do not include experimental demonstrations that MIT's Walter Lewin was famous for, but he's equally lucid, and also more expert in quantum theory. A great way to review your college physics or learn it for the first time.

Excellent explanations of each topic. Instead of the dry text that has the equations, but little else; this book has extensive explanations of the background physics. When you are done with a chapter, you understand both the underlying physics and the equations. The online lectures are also excellent and follow the book perfectly.

No nonsense illustrations and jargon. Everything in this book is there for a purpose. Very concise and covers all or almost all the ideas for undergraduate level physics in these particular subjects.