Cool. His lecture notes are worth checking out when studying any physics topic imo. I've seen his QFT notes especially recommended in many places, though I haven't yet got that far personally...

There are lots of recorded lectures by him online too, which are great. His quantum field their lectures are especially popular https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/qftvids.html.

The smell is indeed the important part. Sadly the smell goes away in a while even if unopened. Maybe I should purchase some case to retain the smell.

Great lecturer - when I took Part III he stepped in for a few sessions when the regular lecturer for QFT broke her arm.

His notes are always pretty clearly explained. Equally importantly, I've found he's always really responsive if you think you've found an error. (And very patient if the original is correct, and your "correction" is a mistake!)

His quantum mechanics lecture on YouTube at the Royal Society I think, is a masterpiece. Some very interesting facts, mostly about what we don't know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNVQfWC_evg

"Dave's lectures are basically the opposite of me." - Pete Tong

Cool that his lecture notes are now books! The lack of thermodynamics/statistical mechanics is an unfortunate oversight, however, otherwise one could feasibly use his books exclusively for an undergraduate-level degree program in physics.