Customer Reviews

Mechanics (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book and Goldstein's Mechanics is all you will ever need as a practicing physicist. Symon's book has great detail and is written in a clearly understandable style that is perfect for a 2 semester course in mechanics at the advanced undergraduate level. It will also serve you well as a supplement to Goldstein's mechanics, with more examples and explicit detailed calculations, which show the steps that Goldstein sometimes glosses over.
Overall an excellent text, I have yet to see a better mechanics book at this level. I just wonder when a new edition is due out, its probably the only reason people don't use this text as THE STANDARD for all undergraduate mechanics courses.
In any event, if your studying mechanics this is the book to have!

I have used this book extensively over many years. I have found it to be very clear and straightforward. It is fairly mathematical but nothing beyond the normal freshman/sophmore college mathematics is really needed. The problem set is excellent over 400 problems are in this book and although there are some pretty easy ones there are some real killers in there as well. Try 3.56, the effect of the earth's oblateness on satellite orbits, for example. I spent many days on this one, and I was a very good student. (the real killers are usually designated by a star). It is true that Symon does not include many examples explicitly in his book but there are easy problems in the problem sets which serve the same purpose. At some point a student needs to be able to work from a set of physical principles without examples, because when you are working on an original problem later in industry or grad school there are no examples. Symon expects this and so he is a bit more demanding than some other authors. I find Symon's mathematical development easy to follow and quite good. This is my favorite mechanics textbook and I own more than 20. There are answers to about half the problems in the book and the book is pretty free of errors and typos. (a nice feature for me) Please also note that this book has been in print for 50 years, how many poor books is that true of.

If somebody ask me which book on Mechanics to really learn the subject using an appropriate mathematical language, only Symon comes to my mind. This is a book that influenced generations of physicists and keeps on doing it.
Even the part on analytical mechanics, which, I believe, is not among the main goals of the book, is very, very readable! I can say the same about the two chapters (13 and 14) on Relativity -- and here goes a suggestion: these two chapters are the best introduction on Einstein's special theory available!
I feel very bad in finding here a person of the same country as me showing so much disliking about a book that has been used all around my country (not to say the world) for decades!

This is an excellent introductory text in classical mechanics, which bridges the gap between Freshman physics and advanced texts like Goldstein. It contains a good mix between equations and physical insight and understanding, providing many physical explanations to some concepts that are rarely found in other texts. Due to its considerable scope, the book is quite dense with information (over 600 pages). To keep the number of equations manageable, Symon resorts to skipping many straightforward steps in derivations and to leaving much "as an exercise for the reader". This is not a problem, for in most cases he leaves sufficient instructions that the careful reader can arrive at the same results, but make sure you have a pen and lots of paper nearby when reading it!

The level of discussion goes well beyond that of Freshman physics, and introduces more realistic complexities such as nonlinearity, precession, non-spherical shapes, etc. At the same time, it does not rely much on advanced mathematics, thus it is easily within the grasp of undergraduate students. Any mathematics beyond Freshman Calculus that is used is Freshman Calculus is explained in the text. The book covers many topics, among which I found the following to be well-presented:

1. Excellent explanation and philosophical definition of basic quantities like mass, force, and momentum.
2. A brief introduction to vector analysis and coordinate systems.
3. A brief (and excellent) introduction to tensors as they apply in physics.
4. A near complete analysis of the harmonic oscillator in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions, as well as coupled harmonic oscillators.
5. The pendulum and rigid rotations.
6. Moving and rotating coordinate systems.
7. Inertia and free rotation.
8. Central force problems
9. Newtonian gravitation and planetary motion.
10. N-body problem, with a thorough analysis of the 3-body problem (as far as can be achieved analytically).
11. Brief introduction to Lagrangian formulation [though I wish he included more solved examples in this section]
12. Wave and fluid dynamics.
13. Small vibrations, stability, and perturbation theory.

My biggest complaint about the second edition was the difficulty of the problems. That edition lacked easy problems with which to reinforce understanding of the text before tackling the harder ones. This problem was corrected in the 3rd edition, which adds a lot more (easier) problems to many chapters, and reorganizes the problems to follow the order of the text. This makes it much more useful, though I warn that some of the problems (especially the asterisked ones) are really hard! The answers at the back of the book are not perfect either and have some mistakes. The 3rd edition also added two chapters on special relativity and relativistic dynamics that I found quite useful and well-presented.

Here in Brazil Symon's book is the standard for every undergraduate course in mechanics. And for a good reason. It has the most lucid and organized text, a lot of details and a lot of subject-matter (even mechanics of continuous media, which is rarely treated in courses). On the whole, the book is great. It takes care of every important step in the derivations, but does not do everything, so you must read it with paper and pencil to do intermediate steps. But that is the right way. One does not learn mechanics, or any other part of theoretical physics, if one does not follow the course of the mathematics in his own head. Symon just leaves us the easier steps, and in such a way to be, at the same time, a good way of learning. The exercises range from simple applications to very challenging (as in most books), and in many ways supplement text material. You must not be discouraged if you cannot succeed in solving many - as I couldn't. Just reading the text makes you understand this beautiful branch of human culture called mechanics. Goldstein's classic work, the basis for today's graduate school's teaching on mechanics, is much more understandable after Symon - as many point out, even Goldstein himself!

I used Symon's book in the late 70's when I learned mechanics. At the time the only other intermediate machanics book really in use was by Jerry Marion. Marion died shortly afterwards and the book was updated by another author. From the reviews I've read it appears the update was very poor. This leaves Symon's book.

For me, Symon's book is an absolute classic for learning mechanics. The sequence of topics progresses from single particle mechanics, system of particles, rigid bodies, gravitation, rotating cooridinate systems, continuum mechanics, Lagrange's equations, rotational dynamics, theory of small vibrations, and, finally, special relativity. The sequence is logical and one chapter leads to another. The chapter on small vibrations is basically an introduction to classical field theory -- a beginner's step to quantum field theory.

My one complaint about Symon, which Marion's old book covered in great detail, is the omission of calculus of variations and its use in deriving Lagrange's equations. Having said that, however, Symon's approach is a more intuitive and physically-based approach. This is what is needed when you are first learning the subject. If you use Symon's book to learn mechanics, go to the library and check out Marion's old mechanics book and use it as a reference to learn the basics of calculus of variations and an alternate derivation of Lagrange's equations. If you are going to graduate school for physics, then you *must* know the other derivation. It is fundamental in physics.

My final comment is on the problems. Symon contains 100's of problems. The answers to all the odd numbered problems are given at the end of the book. I remember working through most, if not all, the odd numbered problems later on during graduate school. It was *very* nice to have the solutions. The problems range from very easy "one, two, three" type of problems, to long and difficult problems. To expect any thing else from a physics text book is totally unrealistic. Get used to it. In graduate school -- all the problems are long and tedious.

A timeless introduction to the study of mechanics at the advanced undergraduate level. The multitude of thought provoking problems provide the user with the uncommon fortune to discover and develop problem solving methods not explicitly given in the text. This is not a "plug and chug" text but rather one that pushes the student to use a combination of previously learned and text given concepts to develop a foundation of applying appropriate mathematical tools to solve problems related to mechanics and other disciplines, a text that is designed to expose the student to the fascinating world of analytical applied mathematics.

With all due respect, I do not think the critics of this book are aware of how this text can prepare a student for a study of modern physics. The beauty of this book is in its problems, and some may not realise how difficult it is to combine principles and problems in a respectable text, for principles and general equations are written in a scholarly form -- while problems, for the most part, ask for derived forms; however, if you have an intellectual work ethic, an attention span, the ability to visualise, and a graphing calculator(wouldn't be a bad idea), you'll get as much or more out of this book as any other.

This text outshines and outperforms Marion/Thornton by far! Symon has an enjoyable, if a bit rambling, writing style. Unlike the stupidly popular Marion/Thornton text, Symon actually explains the physics! Right on! Keep on rockin', Symon!

Before Goldstein and Marion, there were Fowles and Symon. If Goldstein is a nightmare, then Symons can prove to fill in alot of gaps. Topics are well covered and many example problems are given. Not as complete as Marion, but just as valuable. Symon contains alot of "old school" skills which prove to be very valuable.

It's a shame that it takes Fowles, Symon, and Marion to get you through Goldstein, but nevertheless, take a hint and stock up if you are to face the Goldstein book.