Customer Reviews

Mechanics: From Newton's Laws to Deterministic Chaos

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

 

 

This book is the greatest there is for a study of mechanics on an undergratuate level. This book covers alot of subjects with a unique combination of strictness and easyness. It's a must for all physics and mathematics students. It's index: 1.Elementary Newton Mechanics 2.The Principles of Canonical Mechanics 3.The Mechanics of Rigid Bodies 4.Relativistic Mechanics 5.Geometric Apsects of Mechanics 6.Stability and Chaos 7.Continuous Systems

I would agree on the rather high quality of the present
book, as pointed out in the other review.

However, the books seems not appropriate for a first contact
with Newtonian mechanics.

While the book makes every effort to introduce the reader to
modern concepts used in Mechanics, notably its setting in a
differential geometric context and an introduction to nonlinear
dynamical systems, the very basis of vector mechanics receives
only attention from one chapter.

This is clearly inadequate and a thourough understanding of
elementary vector mechanics and a good round of problem solving
is certainly essential before addressing even the simplest
Lagrangian mechanics.

The reason I want to point this out, is that the book is used
at an early level in German universities.

That is scary. I can well imagine people attempting to walk
through tangent spaces, but not able to integrate a simple
dynamics problem in R^2.

Please be careful!

Although I agree that one might be scared by the presence of sophisticated chapters like the one devoted to differential geometry, I find that this book is the best for an undergraduate level. It begins with Newtonian mechanics (some knowledge on linear algebra and calculus assumed) and covers all the fundamental points of modern mechanics in a rigorous and straightforward way, including a chapter in special relativity and another on dynamical systems and chaos. As it emphasizes the relevant role of symmetries, it naturally leads to quantum mechanics and can be used by advanced undergrad or graduate students interested in the geometrical foundations of mechanics.
Even though it is certainly not the easiest book available, if you have to buy just one, buy this!