Readers ready to embrace their inner applied mathematician will enjoy this brisk, bare-bones introduction to classical mechanics drawn from Stanford University's "Continuing Studies" program. Although physicist Susskind (The Black Hole War) and science advocate Hrabovsky touch briefly on electricity and magnetism, the book is primarily about mechanics and the motion of particles. The authors open with a look at closed and open systems and the reversibility of physical laws, a concept central to the field. Next are rigorous chapters on trigonometry and vectors, and a no-nonsense intro to differential and integral calculus, and how these tools are used to calculate the motion of objects through space. Not for the faint of heart, successive chapters introduce Newton's law of motion, the complex mathematics of "systems" of particles, phase space, conservation of momentum, and the Principle of Least Action, which allows scientists to "package" a system's velocity, mass, direction, and forces into a single function. The authors intend this book as a toolkit for determined readers who want to teach themselves basic mechanics. Although their discussions are clear enough, even the hardiest reader will want to bring a basic calculus text along for the journey. 62 line drawings. Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman, Inc. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Theoretical Minimum by physicists Susskind (Stanford Univ.) and Hrabovsky (president, Madison Area Science and Technology, Wisconsin) rests in what seems to be an otherwise unoccupied shelf in the library of physics; it is difficult to think of another volume quite like it. The book grew out of a noncredit course Susskind taught at Stanford for many years, designed for people with some training in calculus and a strong interest in understanding real theoretical physics, including the mathematics. The authors clearly address this audience in The Theoretical Minimum and accomplish their goal. Along with tutorials in differential and integral calculus, they host a tour though spaces, dynamical laws, Lagrangian formalism, Hamiltonian mechanics, and Poisson brackets, while sustaining a focus on symmetries and conservation laws and providing periodic exercises. Excellent as an introduction to theoretical physics for the educated layperson, the book will also be useful to students and physicists for its elegant summary of the complete structure of classical mechanics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through professionals. K. D. Fisher Columbus State Community College