Classical Mechanics

John R. Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics John R Taylor

University Science Books, 2005 - Science - 786 pages

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.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - daschaich - LibraryThing

The Unhappy Medium: Taylor's book isn't bad. However, it does have some problems, the chief one being verbosity. As other reviewers have mentioned, Taylor often uses quite a few words to say not very ...

About the author

JOHN R. TAYLOR is Professor of Physics and Presidential Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado, where he has won numerous teaching awards, served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physics, and received an Emmy Award for his television series called 'Physics 4 Fun'. He is also the author of three best-selling textbooks, including Introduction to Error Analysis.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Classical Mechanics; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Authors: John R. Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics John R Taylor
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University Science Books, 2005
• ISBN: 189138922X, 9781891389221
• Length: 786 pages
• Subjects: Science / Mechanics / General; Science / Physics / General