Classical Mechanics

John Taylor has brought to his new book, Classical Mechanics, all of the clarity and insight that made his Introduction to Error Analysis a best selling text. Classical Mechanics is intended for students who have studied some mechanics in an introductory physics course and covers such topics as conservation laws, oscillations, Lagrangian mechanics, two body problems, non inertial frames, rigid bodies, normal modes, chaos theory, Hamiltonian mechanics, and continuum mechanics. A particular highlight is the chapter on chaos, which focuses on a few simple systems, to give a truly comprehensible introduction to the concepts that we hear so much about. At the end of each chapter is a large selection of interesting problems for the student, classified by topic and approximate difficulty, and ranging from simple exercises to challenging computer projects. Taylor's Classical Mechanics is a thorough and very readable introduction to a subject that is four hundred years old but as exciting today as ever. He manages to convey that excitement as well as deep understanding and insight.