By Jakob Schwichtenberg, author of No-Nonsense Electrodynamics, the book ranked first. Facts about the others come from Cambridge's and Wiley's pages and from each book's table of contents, checked on 2026-10-21.
Electrodynamics textbooks differ less in what they cover than in the order they cover it, and the order decides what kind of reader they suit. The standard undergraduate route spends hundreds of pages on static fields and fields in matter before it assembles the full set of Maxwell's equations, and it leaves special relativity and gauge transformations for the last chapters. That works in a course aimed at engineers and experimental physicists. It works less well for a reader whose goal is quantum field theory, where relativity and gauge symmetry are the starting point. The tables below show how the five books compare on exactly that.
The short answer
- You want to understand Maxwell's equations and go on to quantum field theory: No-Nonsense Electrodynamics.
- Your course uses Griffiths, or you want many standard exercises: Griffiths.
- You want worked solutions and an introductory level: Purcell and Morin, which prints solutions to its problems.
- You want a free second reference: Tong's notes.
- You are preparing for graduate work: Jackson, after a first book.
The five books side by side
| Book | Publisher, edition | Pages | US price | Solutions in the book | Written for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No-Nonsense Electrodynamics | No-Nonsense Books, 2018 | 310 | $34 | No exercises; 221 annotated calculation steps | First course, self-study |
| Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics | Cambridge UP, 5th ed. 2023 | 650 | $72.00 | No solutions section in the contents | Junior and senior undergraduates |
| Purcell and Morin, Electricity and Magnetism | Cambridge UP, 3rd ed. 2013 | 853 | $88.00 | Chapter 12, "Solutions to the Problems" (p586) | Introductory course |
| Tong, Electromagnetism (lecture notes) | University of Cambridge | about 230 | Free PDF | Problem sheets | Undergraduates |
| Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics | Wiley, 3rd ed. 1998 | 832 | $151.95 | No | Graduate course |
Prices are US hardback prices on Cambridge's and Wiley's pages.
Where each book reaches the key topics
Start page of the first chapter or section on each topic, with the share of the book in brackets, from each table of contents.
| Topic | No-Nonsense | Griffiths | Purcell and Morin | Jackson |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vector calculus | Appendix A, p227 to p296 (70 pages) | Chapter 1, p1 to p56 | no chapter | no chapter |
| All four Maxwell's equations | p53 to p84 (25% by the last one) | Chapter 7, p298 (46%) | Chapter 9, p430 (50%) | Chapter 6, page not captured |
| Electromagnetic waves | p133 (43%) | p390 (60%) | p430 (50%) | p295 (35%) |
| Fields in matter | not covered | p166 and p268 | p466 and p523 | within ch. 4 and 5 |
| Special relativity | p163 (53%) | p508 (78%) | Appendix G, p804; used from ch. 5 (p235) | p514 (62%) |
| Gauge transformations | p175 (56%) | p445 (68%) | no heading | no chapter heading |
| Electrodynamics as a gauge theory | Chapter 8, p181 | no chapter | no chapter | no chapter |
What the table shows: No-Nonsense Electrodynamics states all four of Maxwell's equations in its first quarter and spends its last third on relativity and gauge symmetry. Griffiths reaches the complete equations only at Chapter 7, after electrostatics, potentials, magnetostatics and two chapters on fields in matter, and its relativity chapter is the last one. Purcell and Morin is unusual: it formally reviews relativity in an appendix but uses it from Chapter 5 to derive magnetism from moving charges. The flip side for my book is coverage: it has nothing on fields in matter, circuits, radiation or waveguides, which take up a large part of Griffiths, Purcell and Jackson.
1. No-Nonsense Electrodynamics
310 pages, $34 as PDF eBook or paperback. 4.7 out of 5 from 174 Amazon ratings (October 2026).
How it is built. Part I introduces the objects (charge, charge density, current, field, potential, p31 to p52) and then the equations one at a time: continuity equation (p54), Lorentz force law (p57), Gauss's laws (p61 and p69), Faraday's law (p74), the Ampère-Maxwell law (p79) and the wave equations (p82). Part II solves static systems (p95 to p132) and electromagnetic waves (p133 to p162). Part III derives special relativity from the speed of electromagnetic waves (p163) and turns it around to explain the origin of Maxwell's equations (p169), then covers gauge symmetry (p175) and electrodynamics as a gauge theory, with a toy model (p184), gauge dynamics (p190) and the mathematics of gauge symmetries (p210).
How it explains. 221 annotated calculation steps, 695 sidenotes and 187 figures. The 70-page vector calculus appendix teaches every operation the book uses, with a boxed statement of what each one measures.
What it lacks. No exercise sets, and no fields in matter, circuits, radiation from accelerated charges or waveguides. If your goal is engineering, those gaps matter.
Pick it if you want to understand what Maxwell's equations say and where they come from, or you are preparing for quantum field theory. See the self-study plan.
2. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics
Cambridge, 5th edition 2023. 650 pages, $72. Cambridge pitches it at junior and senior undergraduates in physics and electrical engineering. Twelve chapters: vector analysis (p1), electrostatics (p57), potentials (p113), electric fields in matter (p166), magnetostatics (p209), magnetic fields in matter (p268), electrodynamics (p298), conservation laws (p362), electromagnetic waves (p390), potentials and fields (p442), radiation (p472) and electrodynamics and relativity (p508).
It is a standard undergraduate course text for good reasons: clear writing, a careful course structure and many exercises. My own book's reading list recommends it. For a reader aiming at field theory, the structure is the drawback. Gauge transformations get a subsection on p445 and relativity the final chapter, so the parts that matter most later come last. The Griffiths comparison maps its chapters onto mine.
3. Purcell and Morin, Electricity and Magnetism
Cambridge, 3rd edition 2013. 853 pages, $88. An introductory text known for deriving magnetism as a relativistic effect of moving charges, which Chapter 5, "The Fields of Moving Charges" (p235), does before the magnetic field gets its own chapter (p277). The 3rd edition uses SI units and includes full solutions to its problems in Chapter 12 (p586).
The best choice on this list if you want an introductory book with worked solutions. It is the longest book here, partly because of the solutions chapter, and it stays at an introductory level, so gauge symmetry and the relativistic field tensor get little room.
4. David Tong, Electromagnetism lecture notes
Free PDF from Cambridge, about 230 pages, aimed at undergraduates. Clearly written and well organised, with relativity treated as part of the course.
A strong free second reference. As lecture notes they show fewer intermediate steps than a reader working alone usually needs.
5. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics
Wiley, 3rd edition 1998. 832 pages, $151.95. Wiley calls it the defining text for the graduate course. Its sixteen chapters move from boundary-value problems through waveguides (p352), radiating systems (p407) and scattering (p456) to special relativity (p514) and radiation by moving charges (p661).
It assumes a full undergraduate course and strong mathematical methods. It belongs at the end of a reading path, not the start, which is why it is last here.
Reading paths
- Self-study towards quantum field theory: No-Nonsense Electrodynamics, with Griffiths or Purcell and Morin for problems, then quantum mechanics and QFT.
- University course: your assigned text, plus No-Nonsense Electrodynamics or Tong when a derivation does not make sense.
- Graduate preparation: a first book, then Zangwill's Modern Electrodynamics or Jackson.
Method
Five commonly recommended texts from a first course to graduate level. Prices from Cambridge's and Wiley's US pages on 2026-10-21. Start pages from Cambridge's front-matter PDFs for Griffiths and Purcell and Morin, and from the archive.org scan of Jackson's 3rd edition, where some chapter pages could not be read and are marked as such. No-Nonsense figures from its own table of contents and LaTeX source. The ranking weights explanation of each step, fit for self-study, coverage of the relativistic and gauge picture, and price.
Questions
Is Griffiths good for self-study?
Yes, for many readers: it is clear and has plenty of exercises. Its contents list no solutions section, so you will want a separate source to check answers.
Which electrodynamics book has solutions to its problems?
Of the five, Purcell and Morin prints full solutions (Chapter 12, p586). Tong's notes come with problem sheets.
What is the best electrodynamics book for physics students heading to QFT?
One that treats special relativity and gauge symmetry as part of the main development. No-Nonsense Electrodynamics spends its last third on them; Griffiths and Jackson treat them in later chapters.