An Introduction to Mechanics
An Introduction to Mechanics book cover

An Introduction to Mechanics

First Edition

Price
$37.03
Format
Hardcover
Pages
566
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0521198219
Dimensions
7.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches
Weight
3.09 pounds

Description

Endorsement: "Kleppner and Kolenkow's An Introduction to Dynamics is a classic textbook as useful today as when it was first published in 1973. It covers classical mechanics and energy through planetary orbits and oscillators as well as special relativity helping well-prepared freshmen to develop the conceptual understanding and mathematical confidence to tackle the analytical dynamics and quantum mechanics that is to come. Of particular note is the treatment of the difficult subject of rigid body dynamics. The worked examples and problems thoughtfully confront and resolve many of the confusions that students typically encounter." Roger Blandford, Stanford University Endorsement: "… the 'gold standard' for a mechanics text at this level and should be on the bookshelf of every serious student, alongside other classic books like Jackson's "Classical Electrodynamics" and Goldstein's "Classical Mechanics". I am glad to see it is to be re-issued by Cambridge at a more sensible price. This addresses the only negative feature of the book." David Hanna, McGill University Endorsement: "Kleppner and Kolenkow is a great textbook for advanced freshmen studying classical mechanics. It does a wonderful job of developing conceptual, mathematical intuition. The text, the examples, and the problems are all engaging and provide students with a strong foundation to become master problem-solvers. It is particularly good for developing an intuition for multivariable calculus in the context of classical mechanics." Kathryn Moler, Stanford University Endorsement: "An Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow is a great book. It is original and beautifully written and is really the only choice for a serious introduction to mechanics for well prepared physics majors. I very much enjoy the book every time I teach freshman mechanics." Bruce Winstein, University of Chicago Book Description A classic textbook on the principles of Newtonian mechanics for undergraduate students, accompanied by numerous worked examples and problems. Daniel Kleppner is Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For his contributions to teaching he has been awarded the Oersted Medal by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society. He has also received the Wolf Prize and the National Medal of Science.Robert Kolenkow was Associate Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Renowned for his skills as a teacher, Kolenkow was awarded the Everett Moore Baker Award for Outstanding Teaching. He has since retired. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • In the years since it was first published in 1973 by McGraw-Hill, this classic introductory textbook has established itself as one of the best-known and most highly regarded descriptions of Newtonian mechanics. Intended for undergraduate students with foundation skills in mathematics and a deep interest in physics, it systematically lays out the principles of mechanics: vectors, Newton's laws, momentum, energy, rotational motion, angular momentum and noninertial systems, and includes chapters on central force motion, the harmonic oscillator, and relativity. Numerous worked examples demonstrate how the principles can be applied to a wide range of physical situations, and more than 600 figures illustrate methods for approaching physical problems. The book also contains over 200 challenging problems to help the student develop a strong understanding of the subject. Password-protected solutions are available for instructors at www.cambridge.org/9780521198219.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(174)
★★★★
25%
(145)
★★★
15%
(87)
★★
7%
(41)
23%
(133)

Most Helpful Reviews

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not for everyone

These days I teach physics for a living, but in 1982 I used this book as a freshman in an honors class. Here are some impressions from going back over the book three decades later.

For a student who really wants to know the whys and wherefores of freshman mechanics, I am not aware of any alternative to this book that is available from the traditional publishers. The big-selling texts like Halliday may carefully derive certain things, but in other cases they just pop an equation onto the page and expect the student to use it without question. However, there are many free, online alternatives these days to the big-budget commercial texts, and some of these do provide a level of intellectual honesty similar to K&K's.

There are many challenging problems that are of very high quality. The focus of these problems is on symbolic rather than numerical computation.

The book includes many topics that are not typically included in a freshman text, e.g., nutation, the moment of inertia tensor, and relativistic four-vectors.

The book is designed for highly motivated and talented students, at schools with highly selective admissions, who have already taken a rigorous high school physics course, and who have already completed about a year of calculus. It would be a disaster to try to use this book with a less highly selected population.

The book shows its age (38 years!) in many ways. It presents various examples of applications of relativity, but they are all extremely old and dusty. Masculine pronouns are used generically. There is no discussion of numerical integration of the equations of motion. Attempts are made to help the student check results of symbolic results, e.g., by giving the output for a specific input, but today this would be far better done using open-source computer software such as LON-CAPA. Diagrams show common student lab apparatus from the Sputnik era. The book predates essentially all modern pedagogical research in physics, and it does not do any of the things that that research shows can have an impact on common conceptual difficulties.

To my taste, the treatment of special relativity is dreary and slavishly traditional, with too little geometrical insight.

Although the book is overpriced, there is a used market, and since the book hasn't changed in 38 years, students can buy a used copy without worrying about compatibility.
10 people found this helpful
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A great book, if you already know physics

Most of the positive reviews of this book are coming from those who have already (at least) taken a college-level mechanics course previously. For those people, this book is elegant in its explanations and deep in its insight.

For those who haven't, however, this book makes for a terrible introduction to the concepts. The explanations offered can be very hard to penetrate for those who don't already have a solid grasp on the material (both the physics and the calculus). In addition, the exercises offered do not start off easy and ease into the more challenging problems. With a rare exception, every single problem is extremely difficult, with many leaving one in the dark of where to even start.

This book was used in the first quarter of physics at my college, and, at least for me, it might as well have been a quarter wasted. I learned very little from the book; the explanations served only to confuse me, and the problems served only to frustrate me. Studying for the exams (which were composed of problems from this book) boiled down to memorizing how to do a few specific problems and praying to various deities that those problems would appear on the test.

In the second quarter, the class switched over to the Resnick, Halliday, and Krane, which I highly recommend for college freshmen.

I'm aware that those looking at these reviews in order to decide which book to use for their class might regard my review as an angry tirade by a frustrated student. This may be true. However, I only seek to give my perspective of using this book as a freshman physics major in college, and I can assure you that my views were not in the minority among the class.
9 people found this helpful
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What a great book. Tough for an introduction

What a great book. Tough for an introduction, but if you're up to the challenge it can be rewarding. Problems are hard but really good.
3 people found this helpful
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the best mechanics book

I wanted to buy a good (calculus based) mechanics book suitable for Class 11 and 12. After reading reviews from amazon I bought this book. This is the best mechanics book I have seen at this level. The exposition is good and the problem sets help you to understand better. There are very few problems that are difficult to solve after reading the text. It also includes several topics (rotational dynamics - gyroscope, special relativity etc.) which are not covered in Class 11 and 12. Any curious student would love to read the extra topics. I also liked how some nontrivial calculus results (Stokes theorem) are included to give a better understanding of Physics. If you want to learn this book is very hard to beat. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who understands basic calculus and knows Grade 10 Physics well (I read from Abott). For Calculus I would recommend Courant and Fritz (I read from Piskunov since I got it for $4). Another book I would strongly recommend is the book by Purcell (Electricity and Magnetism, Berkeley Physics Course). Purcell is more suitable as a first year undergraduate. For other topics I have not yet found a book which I would recommend this strongly. This is a serious book and not suitable for casual reading or ``cramming" before examinations.
3 people found this helpful
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Used but really new

Stated that it was used but it was actually like new. Great book. Great shipping time. Must have for all physics students.