J. J. Sakurai (1933–1982)

The first few chapters are fantastic, as the non-historical approach to quantum mechanics and the ability (or merely choice) to drop Dirac notation on your ass straight away helps solidify all the things you thought you understood as an undergrad. And then you get to scattering. Ya see, our friend JJ Sakurai had the gall to die before finishing this book, and countless grad students are made to suffer for it. The bastard.

Chapters 6 and onwards are a mess, and while Napolitano has at least made an effort to update them and make them more understandable, he seems to have failed miserably. Then there is also the inexplicable decision to include problems based on material that is not at all covered in the text. I quite distinctly recall a problem concerning spontaneous emission and the lifetime of the 2p state, although Napolitano seems to think this is so trivial as to not include a section that so much as uses these words. For those inclined to actually study this problem, or for those who have the bad luck of having a professor assign this problem, I highly recommend Sakurai's other book, Advanced Quantum Mechanics, as here you will find the full treatment and will be able to work up to the solution. That a graduate level text in its third edition (there was a "revised" edition before this "second" edition) has problems that the authors don't even deign to acknowledge is astonishing, especially when they are complex enough to warrant an entire chapter in an "Advanced" textbook, and that about sums up how I feel about the last few chapters. I can't get enough of the first 4 chapters, but the ill-thought out bits about scattering, identical particles, and relativistic QM really mar Sakurai's legacy. Napolitano should be ashamed.… (meer)