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Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell
Since it was first published, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell has quickly established itself as the most accessible and comprehensive introduction to this profound and deeply fascinating area of theoretical physics. Now in this fully revised
576 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2003
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1314 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 17, 2022
[Before reading]
Ordered.
My early New Year's resolution is that I am damn well going to understand what the deal is with symmetry and quantum mechanics... all these sly references to irreducible representations and Yang-Mills theories are driving me nuts.
They almost explain how it works, then they stop short at the crucial point and say it's kind of technical. I haven't felt so excluded since I was in second grade and the big kids knew where babies came from but I didn't.
___________________________
[After reading]
I painfully struggled through this book, most of which is well above my reading age, and now my understanding has progressed to a fourth-grade level. When I'm with second-graders, I can do the sophisticated and confident thing and say that of course I know where particles come from, doesn't everyone? Look stupid, you have these symmetries and you find a representation of them and that gives you a field. And then you have particles. What, you haven't heard of Noether's Theorem? Ha! Ha! He hasn't heard of Noether's Theorem! Bet you don't know what a path integral is either. Like there's two integrals, one at the beginning and one in the exponent. [Other fourth-graders snigger convulsively at "one in the exponent"] Course that's not all there is to it. Sometimes it's broken symmetries. And then there's things like solitons where it's topological. I can go on for long enough that the second-graders retire in confusion.
Unfortunately, to borrow the phrase I hear my new classmates use, I haven't yet actually done it. I have these fantasies about implausibly compliant equations lying down and letting themselves be derived. But that's as far as it's got.
___________________________
[Update, Jan 17 2022]
Yesterday, I overheard a conversation between a couple of retired mathematicians. One of them was up on quantum mechanics; the other said he hadn't looked at the subject since the early 70s and wanted to find out what he'd been missing. From memory, it went something like this:
- So what are these quarks?
- They come in threes.
- In threes?
- It's actually very simple. You remember Feynman diagrams?
- Yes...
- Well, it turns out they're really about irreducible representations and Clebsch–Gordan coefficients.
- Ah, right!
See what I mean?
Ordered.
My early New Year's resolution is that I am damn well going to understand what the deal is with symmetry and quantum mechanics... all these sly references to irreducible representations and Yang-Mills theories are driving me nuts.
They almost explain how it works, then they stop short at the crucial point and say it's kind of technical. I haven't felt so excluded since I was in second grade and the big kids knew where babies came from but I didn't.
___________________________
[After reading]
I painfully struggled through this book, most of which is well above my reading age, and now my understanding has progressed to a fourth-grade level. When I'm with second-graders, I can do the sophisticated and confident thing and say that of course I know where particles come from, doesn't everyone? Look stupid, you have these symmetries and you find a representation of them and that gives you a field. And then you have particles. What, you haven't heard of Noether's Theorem? Ha! Ha! He hasn't heard of Noether's Theorem! Bet you don't know what a path integral is either. Like there's two integrals, one at the beginning and one in the exponent. [Other fourth-graders snigger convulsively at "one in the exponent"] Course that's not all there is to it. Sometimes it's broken symmetries. And then there's things like solitons where it's topological. I can go on for long enough that the second-graders retire in confusion.
Unfortunately, to borrow the phrase I hear my new classmates use, I haven't yet actually done it. I have these fantasies about implausibly compliant equations lying down and letting themselves be derived. But that's as far as it's got.
___________________________
[Update, Jan 17 2022]
Yesterday, I overheard a conversation between a couple of retired mathematicians. One of them was up on quantum mechanics; the other said he hadn't looked at the subject since the early 70s and wanted to find out what he'd been missing. From memory, it went something like this:
- So what are these quarks?
- They come in threes.
- In threes?
- It's actually very simple. You remember Feynman diagrams?
- Yes...
- Well, it turns out they're really about irreducible representations and Clebsch–Gordan coefficients.
- Ah, right!
See what I mean?
April 28, 2014
You wouldn't believe the size of A's nuts.
January 19, 2022
i am not often totally defeated by a book--i mean, obviously there are countless books i'm incapable of reading usefully, but normally i'm sensible enough not to buy them. this is clearly an excellent book (and i *loved* zee's General Relativity in a Nutshell), but alas, my grounding in practical undergraduate physics is simply not sufficiently strong to make much headway here. as one does with textbooks, i skipped over material i couldn't immediately grok, looking for a foothold, some scaffolding further on, but that foothold never came, and i went howling through 608 pages of falling darkness. i hope to revisit it some day, but as someone who abandoned their undergraduate physics triforce (i started at GT as a CompSci-Math-Physics triple major) following ClassMech I and Quantum I, i just lack the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian chops. this oughtn't be held against the book whatsoever, which appears by all indications to be a superb introduction to the subject.
May 15, 2014
I read this book mostly from the point of view of a mathematician who is already comfortable with quantum field theory (at least the sort used in low-dimensional topology) but was hoping to learn more about the physical intuition. This book certainly supplies that intuition in droves, and Zee is a very talented writer who is able to make quantum field theory almost feel intuitive. Mathematicians will of course find the rigor to be lacking, and so I can't really recommend this is as a first quantum field theory book for a mathematician in that regard (really, I have yet to find one that I thought was good for that). But if you'd really like to feel like the process of QFT to make sense in your gut rather than a series of arcane rules and schemas to make invariants magically pop out of the vacuum state, I would certainly recommend this.
Currently reading
July 9, 2012I really don't understand any of it.
June 18, 2016
Inside this nutshell is a delicacy packed with profound insights and the storytelling style makes the flavour ethereal!
This book is unique in the sense that it takes the reader through a fun journey of discovering the subject rather than dictating information. Of course I assume this text would be a fun read for the pioneers. But it is a true gift for the beginners.
Thanks A. Zee !
This book is unique in the sense that it takes the reader through a fun journey of discovering the subject rather than dictating information. Of course I assume this text would be a fun read for the pioneers. But it is a true gift for the beginners.
Thanks A. Zee !
November 11, 2017
The book is no introduction to QFT for sure! But is likely the most enthusiastic QFT book ever !
( a highly absent feature out there in QFT land).
Professor Zee's book enabled me to (finally !) understand the Feynman Path Integral (FPI) approach to QFT !
FPIs are an essential tool in QFT. I have yet to learn how FPIs are used to re-normalize the Weak and Strong interactions (Prof. t'Hooft got a Nobel prize for that..).
There is no lack of books to delve deeper into the subject ...
( a highly absent feature out there in QFT land).
Professor Zee's book enabled me to (finally !) understand the Feynman Path Integral (FPI) approach to QFT !
FPIs are an essential tool in QFT. I have yet to learn how FPIs are used to re-normalize the Weak and Strong interactions (Prof. t'Hooft got a Nobel prize for that..).
There is no lack of books to delve deeper into the subject ...
March 31, 2011
I wish I started learning QFT from this book. I highly recommend it to anyone doing postgrad studies in Particle Physics or even condensed matter theory. However, the book's main focus is conceptual not technical. If you are looking for a book that enables you to calculate, then you should accompany this one with one of the well-known technical books, my favorite is Peskin and Schroeder.
April 19, 2018
This is a must-have book for physicists. Underlying “for physicists” not for the layman.
September 21, 2008
If you like Feynman's style then you are sure to love this read. I learned field theory from Peshkin and Schroeder (sp), which is great for calculating scattering cross sections but lacks the insight and intrigue Zee offers.
August 31, 2015
A very idiosyncratic book. Nevertheless, if you have a mind close to Zee's, it is a great read.
May 2, 2019
Pues podría haberse explicado un poco mejor, la verdad.
August 16, 2021
Didn't understand a word, but it's very well written :). You really do need the math/physics prerequisites to follow this book, and I don't have it; but anyone who can compress this stuff into 3-page chapters and a set of excellent exercises is my hero. A+ to Zee.
The secret, of course, is to not be mathematically "rigorous" which means including all the proofs and nasty math that isn't actually important for understanding the concepts. I realized this is why most machine learning textbooks are unintelligible--they're all about the math and not about the practical application. My bet is that this textbook is popular for teaching because the proofs aren't that interesting compared to the concepts. Perhaps mathematicians might learn something from Zee.
The secret, of course, is to not be mathematically "rigorous" which means including all the proofs and nasty math that isn't actually important for understanding the concepts. I realized this is why most machine learning textbooks are unintelligible--they're all about the math and not about the practical application. My bet is that this textbook is popular for teaching because the proofs aren't that interesting compared to the concepts. Perhaps mathematicians might learn something from Zee.
October 2, 2010
His introduction to the path integral formulation of QFT is terrific. It's hillarious and conceptually clear. This seems to be the case throughout the book. The biggest shortcoming is that the book seems to be arbitrarily formatted. The chapters and sections don't seem to be very well organized.
July 5, 2020
This is very hard for me to rate as I am no student of the field. But I found the tone jovial (which is never bad for a physics book) and how it is build up logical. I think I would j have enjoyed it as a student.
For me it was not right though. I hoped for something more broader giving me an overview of quantum mechanics. This was my mistake for not reading the blueprint though
For me it was not right though. I hoped for something more broader giving me an overview of quantum mechanics. This was my mistake for not reading the blueprint though
January 12, 2012
QFT can't be made easier...still not for Dummies. Worth being taught as an introduction to the field
February 1, 2012
A good first book for studying Quantum Field Theory. Like any first book will give a nice introduction to the subject and main calculation techniques, but do not expect any deeper insight.
July 13, 2021
Very descriptive and thorough with its explanations of devilishly difficult concepts and Zee is pretty entertaining.
But not quite what I needed (a textbook to help me solve QFT problems).
The sort of book I'd go through for the desire of learning more about the field and understanding the physics, rather than assisting me with my postgrad coursework.
But not quite what I needed (a textbook to help me solve QFT problems).
The sort of book I'd go through for the desire of learning more about the field and understanding the physics, rather than assisting me with my postgrad coursework.
August 13, 2024
A beautiful exposition of the way modern field theorists think about quantum field theory, packed with insights and physical intuition. This book should be required reading for every serious student of the subject.
June 18, 2021
A cursory read to get the basic ideas, and most of the book has not been read.
September 6, 2025
Dirac dies at the end
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2024
This is the first edition of this title. I just finished it. Many reviewers have given praise to the author for his book. It's deserved. His connection linking even and odd spin with attractive and repulsive force is quite pleasing. His rationale for Feynman diagrams is particularly good. With little more than an expansion of an exponential term in the Minkowski space Feynman Path Integral, the resulting series of integrals is represented by the mnemonic device of Feynman diagrams. Scattering amplitudes are shown to arise naturally in this formalism without prior introduction of the S-matrix as is done in the canonical formalism. Please note Dr.Zee stays in full generality here and does not Wick rotate to the Euclidean or Feynman-Kac form. This I find to be particularly honest as translation between the two is only easy in the Gaussian case where they both can easily be integrated (baby problem-consider integral of sine of the square of x-change of a variable to square of x and integral test with alternating series show convergence). The friendly conversational style brings the reader to the frontiers of field theory possibly unbeknownst to the reader! Nice job. You may like to check out Dr.Zee's lectures on YouTube. This is just an explanation of the baby problem. Note the change of variable shows all zeroes at non-negative integer multiples of pi. We partition the interval (length pi) into n equal pieces for each hump doing our Riemann sum-we use the value obtained at the midpoint of these pieces for the function values. If we take the k-th value from each of the humps in this Riemann sum we see an alternating series which you recall is bounded above by its first term, summing all these series then we conclude the integral is bounded above by the area of the first hump. Also note the successive 2pi intervals have greater top hump area than bottom hump area, i.e., each interval contributes a net positive value. We've just exhibited the integral as a bounded monotonically increasing series, hence convergent.
My baby problem deals with the Gaussian with an imaginary exponent. It converges like the Wick rotated or imaginary time integral. You can get an exact value using Cauchy's Theorem and contour integration. You use the first 45-degree sector of the unit circle (bottom edge on the positive x-axis and vertex at the origin) as your contour with exp(iz^2)as integrand. This function has no singularities in any bounded region in the plane residues. The top line goes to a real Gaussian integral at infinity multiplied by a cis of 45 degrees. The integral on the circular arc goes to zero (you'll need the inequality sin w is greater than or equal to (2w/pi)-follows since the sine graph is convex on the interval zero to pi/2- Buck Advanced Calculus). The unusual contour is convenient since the upper ray at 45degrees goes to the known simple Gaussian and the bottom is the positive x-axis. Send cash!
Oh, the Buck text discusses the Dirichlet Integral test which takes the alternating series behavior into account but you still need the change of variable. Sadly only in the Gaussian case is there easy translation between Minkowski and Euclidean integrals. Minkowski space integrals from the original FPI (real-time) are rarely convergent. Luckily physicists have found the well-behaved Euclideans to give information asymptotically.
My baby problem deals with the Gaussian with an imaginary exponent. It converges like the Wick rotated or imaginary time integral. You can get an exact value using Cauchy's Theorem and contour integration. You use the first 45-degree sector of the unit circle (bottom edge on the positive x-axis and vertex at the origin) as your contour with exp(iz^2)as integrand. This function has no singularities in any bounded region in the plane residues. The top line goes to a real Gaussian integral at infinity multiplied by a cis of 45 degrees. The integral on the circular arc goes to zero (you'll need the inequality sin w is greater than or equal to (2w/pi)-follows since the sine graph is convex on the interval zero to pi/2- Buck Advanced Calculus). The unusual contour is convenient since the upper ray at 45degrees goes to the known simple Gaussian and the bottom is the positive x-axis. Send cash!
Oh, the Buck text discusses the Dirichlet Integral test which takes the alternating series behavior into account but you still need the change of variable. Sadly only in the Gaussian case is there easy translation between Minkowski and Euclidean integrals. Minkowski space integrals from the original FPI (real-time) are rarely convergent. Luckily physicists have found the well-behaved Euclideans to give information asymptotically.
Want to read
June 20, 2009recommended by Ken from QuISU as a nice conceptual intro to QFT
also suggested these notes:
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/...
also suggested these notes:
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/...
Want to read
July 14, 2009Graduate level. Not quite there, yet.
Want to read
December 24, 2021Quantum field theory — for when you get serious
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews