Customer Reviews

Matter and Motion (Dover Books on Physics)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's striking that previous reviewers belong to two distinct camps. To some, this little book appears to be an elementary introduction to familiar physics -- even, to "Newtonian physics". Others recognize it for what I believe it is: a beautiful and elegant introduction to a new view of the physical world very different from Newton's. To express his theory of electromagnetic field and the holistic view of nature it demanded, he had found his way to the Lagrangian formulation, based not on the individual forces of Newton, but on the energy of whole systems. Individual elements are derived, if at all, only abstractly by way of generalized coordinates. This little volume restates the elements of this new view elegantly without its analytic mathematics. For more about this turning point in Maxwell's work see my study of its role in the Treatise. Figures of Thought. I spell out this view of Matter and Motion in an article reprinted on my website thomasksimpson.com -- look under the heading "articles".

For a beautiful exposition of the Lagrangian view and its foundation in the Principle of Least Action, see Cornelius Lanczos The Variational Principles of Mechanics (Dover Books on Physics and Chemistry).

definitely not the best intro to newton mechanics but if you already know it and need the info in a new prespective this book will do you.NOT A SELF STUDY GUIDE.Is best when used as a review.

This is how founding fathers thought and wrote about the Matter and Motion. It is a nostalgic reading. Maxwell himself wrote about Matter and Motion of course based on Newtonian Physics. You do not learn any new Physics unless you are doing study in the History of Science. Maxwell basically starts with definition of concepts in Newtonian Mechanics and explains Newton's laws of Motion. Force, Energy, Momentum all the good staff. Short book and interesting piece of history. Definitely worth reading of it for leisure or for study.

Just as some assembly is required as with a good chair for the study, some reverence is required to understand this book.

Mordern physics is founded less on math (as some institutional slimeballs would have us believe) and more on the accurate revelations and precision wording--plus just a dash of intellectual wiggle-room--of our most distinguished and revered. Careful thought about just what is being said here by Maxwell along with a thoughtful historical perspective provides an analysis of science that is on par with any analysis of calculus (e.g., as found in Walter Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis).

To give this book less than 5 stars is a sign of reprehensible bad taste.

This is a glorious book, I highly recommend it. Of course, you really shouldn't need me to recommend Maxwell to you. I can assuage any doubts you might have about the presentation being too antiquated to be useful to actual students, however. This isn't just for the historically interested expert, the insights are there for first time learners too.

I suggest that the other reviewers completely missed the significance of Maxwell's book "Matter and Motion" as it is the fountainhead of modern physics. First, it introduces and outlines "Dimensional Analysis" which ALL physics theories MUST conform to. Dimensional Analysis is physics: Equations are maths: Units are politics. Secondly, Maxwell set the stage for Quantum Mechanics by introducing the concept that it is necessary to use statistics to model reality.