Physics 3320 - suggested texts.

We are using Griffiths "Introduction to Electrodynamics". (There is not much difference between 3rd and 4th editions, either should be fine) Here is his errata page.

There are many other E&M texts out there. If you're having difficulties their different styles, perspectives, additional problems and examples may be very useful to you. Here are a few suggestions:

  1. G. Pollack and D. Stump,Electromagnetism, Addison Wesley 2002. This is at the level of Griffiths, and covers all the same material in much the same order. It is probably the second most commonly used book for courses like 3310-3320 across the country (after Griffiths). It's a little more mathematically focused (you'll find some derivations here that Griffiths is a little casual about), and the authors often do a nicer job motivating the physics, bringing in more examples and some historical references. It uses the same units (MKS metric) as Griffiths. (Pollack is no relation to me - apparently he spells his name wrong :-)
  2. M. Heald and J. Marion, Classical Electromagnetic Radiation, 3rd edition, Prentice-Hall, 1999. This is also roughly at the level of Griffiths, and covers all the same material - although I would say a little more mathematically focused and terse. It uses cgs (Gaussian) units, which will make the formulas look just a little bit different (e.g, there's no ε0 in Gauss' law!) It has been used at CU as the main text in some past semesters.
  3. E. Purcell,Electricity and Magnetism, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, 1985. This is a great book for learning E&M. It was originally written in the 1960s for honors-level freshman courses (!) but its treatment of the material is nearly as sophisticated as Griffiths’. (MKS units, like Griffiths).
  4. Feynman, Leighton, and Sands: "The Feynman Lectures on Physics, part II." (Part of a truly wonderful series of 3 "introductory" physics books, you should get a copy and read it!) Like Purcell, written in the '60s for freshmen at CalTech, it too covers much of the E&M from our 3310-3320 sequence. Feynman has amazing, brilliant insights into the physics and mathematics, this book can definitely help you make sense of the formalism we are learning! (MKS units)
A couple more thoughts if you want to push a bit more (all available in the CU library system)
  • Reitz, Milford, Christy, Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory, many editions (earlier ones by Reitz and Milford only). Another alternative textbook at a similar level to Griffiths. MKS units
  • Daniel Fleish, A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations, Cambridgue Univ. Press. This is a tiny, relatively inexpensive little pocketbook that is in the style of "Div, Grad, Curl and All That", just a short intro to the math and ideas of Maxwell'ss equations, one chapter per Maxwell Equation. Nice overview/survey, it doesn't go into all the finer details, just focuses on the big picture. See his website at www.cambridge.org/9780521701471
  • R. K. Wangsness, Electromagnetic Fields. Just another alternative, somewhat more math-focused (if you prefer that) undergrad-level text. Its modular approach means it can be used well as a reference, without having "studied" it like you have your existing text...
  • J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, any edition. Definitely higher-level (this is a grad text), and very heavy on the math. This book is so universal in first-year graduate courses that the course is usually just called “Jackson” rather than “E&M”. If you’re going to graduate school, you might as well buy it now and save two years’ book price inflation. (Gaussian units in old editions, but he switched to MKS in the 3rd edition).