More than a generation of German-speaking students around the world have worked their way to an understanding and appreciation of the power and beauty of modern theoretical physics―with mathematics, the most fundamental of sciences―using Walter Greiner’s textbooks as their guide. The idea of developing a coherent, complete presentation of an entire ?eld of science in a series of closely related textbooks is not a new one. Many older physicians remember with real pleasure their sense of adventure and discovery as they worked their ways through the classic series by Sommerfeld, by Planck, and by Landau and Lifshitz. From the students’ viewpoint, there are a great many obvious advantages to be gained through the use of consistent notation, logical ordering of topics, and coherence of presentation; beyond this, thecompletecoverageofthescienceprovidesauniqueopportunityfortheauthortoconvey his personal enthusiasm and love for his subject. These volumes on classical physics, ?nally availablein English, complement Greiner’s textsonquantumphysics,mostofwhichhavebeenavailabletoEnglish-speakingaudiences for some time. The complete set of books will thus provide a coherent view of physics that includes, in classical physics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, classical dyn- ics, electromagnetism, and general relativity; and in quantum physics, quantum mechanics, symmetries, relativistic quantum mechanics, quantum electro- and chromodynamics, and the gauge theory of weak interactions.
From the reviews:
"What makes Greiner’s volumes of particular value to the student and professor alike is their completeness ... Moreover, Greiner greatly increases the value of his presentation by including something like one hundred completely worked examples in each volume. Nothing is of greater importance to the student than seeing, in detail, how the theoretical concepts and tools under study are applied to actual problems of interest to working physicists ... Greiner’s lectures ... are internationally noted for their clarity, for their completeness, and for the effort that he has devoted to making physics an integral whole. His enthusiasm for his sciences is contagious and shines through almost every page." D. Allan Bromley, Yale University
"This softcover publication ... is based on the author’s courses at the J. W. Goethe University in Frankfurt. ... Although the textbook, by its remarkable completeness, seems to be intended for advanced students and aims to be a reference book for graduate students and teachers, it is sufficiently understandable and extensive to be used by beginners as a first introduction to theoretical physics. It does not only provide a survey of classical theoretical mechanics, but also a respectable amount of examples and problems ... ." (Georges Kohnen, Physicalia, Vol. 57 (3), 2005)
"This volume of lectures ... deals with the first and more elementary part of the important field of classical mechanics. The subject is presented in a manner that is both interesting to the student and easily accessible. The main text is therefore accompanied by many exercises and examples that have been worked out in great detail. This should make the book useful also for students wishing to study the subject on their own. ... A worthwhile purchase for graduate students in physics ... ." (Current Engineering Practice – online, Vol. 47, 2004)
