Recommendations for good Newtonian mechanics and kinematics books

What are some good books for learning the concepts of Kinematics, Newton laws, 2D Motion of Object etc.?

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Can you clarify if you are referring to classical physics or classical mechanics? I ask because all of your examples comes under classical mechanics, but this is only one field within classical physics. Also, at what level should the book be? –  user12345 Apr 12 '13 at 8:34
I'd suggest Openstax. They have a free, online textbook at openstaxcollege.org –  Gabriel Feb 24 at 2:36

One would be hard pushed to find anything better than Kleppner & Kolenkow's textbook - concise and comprehensive and has lots of great exercises.

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Actually, it is the only Mechanics book which builds Newtonian Mechanics from a layman's perspective straight to the deep –  Cheeku Mar 15 '13 at 17:12

The Feynman Lectures on Physics Volume 1

Image from Amazon.com

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+1: The Feynman lectures are for college freshmen taking their first class in classical mechanics and go from there. You'll find both a nice exposition of basic topics and will get a feeling for the enthusiasm of Feynman for physics: Why it is exciting and worthwhile to study. –  Tim van Beek Feb 28 '11 at 7:50
'-1' i am reading it. some concepts are explained trickily and at undue length. But it is good for a review . –  user31782 Dec 24 '13 at 19:20

University Physics - Young and Freedman (any edition)

This is an excellent book, with pretty much every concept on covered in first year university level physics.

Within the mechanics section ($\simeq$ 500 pages)(which I presume the OP wants), it has chapters on

1. Motion along a straight line
2. Motion in 2D and 3D
3. Newton's laws of motion
4. Applying Newton's laws
5. Work and kinetic energy
6. Potential energy and energy conservation
7. Momentum, impulse and collisions
8. Rotation of rigid bodies
9. Dynamics of rotational motion
10. Equilibrium and elasticity
11. Fluid mechanics
12. Gravitation
13. Periodic motion

The other sections are: Waves and Acoustics (2 chapters), Thermodynamics (4 chapters), Electromagnetism (12 chapters), Optics (4 chapters), and finally Modern Physics (8 chapters).

The book has hundreds of worked examples on each topic and around 1000 examples to try without help (half of the solutions are in the back).

In my opinion, it's the best value for money of any physics book in the world.

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The Bible, we call it. The createst textbook of all times. –  Steeven Oct 15 '14 at 16:40

Try Fundamental Laws of Mechanics (by I.E. Irodov). Don't use its problem book as mentioned in a previous answer. The book is written in traditional Russian style, but it will give you clear & super advance idea of mechanics. Its useful to a High School guy as well as a PHD student. http://www.amazon.com/Fundamental-laws-mechanics-I-Irodov/dp/B0007ASWBW/

If you feel it somewhat compact & hard-to-learn book, look no further than Fundamentals of Physics (by Resnik & Halliday).

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-Chapters-David-Halliday/dp/047004473X/

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+1 for Halliday, Resnick, Walker. That book got me through AP Physics C! A good first approach to Physics w/ Calculus. For algebra-based Physics, I suggest "College Physics" the AP-B text: amazon.com/Enhanced-College-Physics-PhysicsNOW-Raymond/dp/… –  Greg May 25 '13 at 11:44

I learnt mechanics as an undergrad with John R. Taylors's "Classical Mechanics", and found it interesting and straightforward. The presentation is wonderful, but most exercises are quite difficult for an undergrad.

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I would suggest "Introduction to classical mechanics" by David Morin. It's the best book of mechanics i've ever seen. It's full of solved interesting problem. You can easily see the deep difference between this and other mechanics books. David Morin Introduction to classical mehcanics

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Morin's book is a terrible grocery list of ambiguous problems. His "worked solutions" and "proofs" have gaps you could drive a truck through. The only good thing I can say about it is this: it ends. –  Alex Nelson Mar 15 '13 at 20:23

I would recommend

• L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz (1976). Mechanics. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.)

Also a very nice approach (at least from my point of view) you can find in Walter Greiner's books:

• Classical Mechanics, Point Particles and Relativity 1st English Ed.(2004)

and

• Classical Mechanics, Systems of Particles and Hamiltonian Dynamics 1st English Ed. (2003)

(The second part of the last book might go beyond the scope of your question)

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While I think personally that Landau Vol. 1 is the best book that I have read on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, I downvoted because I don't think it fits with the request for "learning the concepts of Kinematics, Newton laws, 2D Motion of Object etc". This should definitely not be a first book on Classical Mechanics. –  Flint72 Apr 13 '14 at 22:45

I guess this was too basic for the Physicists here to answer so this lurking Computer Science guy will take a shot. I read those things in High School using the book by Resnik & Halliday.

If you were taught in the Russian tradition (like me) with emphasis on math and lot of problem solving, you might like the book by Irodov. Learning Physics by solving problems is IMHO the best way to do it.

http://www.amazon.com/Problems-general-physics-I-Irodov/dp/5030008004

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And after you get familiar with the basics, you should read Landau and Lifshitz 10 volume series on physics (at least take a look on the first 3 most important volumes) to get familiar with the real word physics, not the simplified version of it.

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Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics - V.I. Arnol’d

It is a graduate book, more focused on the mathematical and modern aspects. If you like to see Classical Mechanics and learn about Manifolds, Differential Forms ... this is for you.

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Best book ever! It contains one of my favourite quotes ever: "Hamiltonian mechanics is geometry in phase space" –  Alex A May 10 '13 at 20:32
The OP wants something on "the concepts of Kinematics, Newton laws, 2D Motion of Object etc" –  user7757 May 25 '13 at 11:38
@ramanujan_dirac This topics are covered in this book. –  ungerade May 25 '13 at 23:29
@ungerade While I agree that V. Arnold is a great book, I downvoted because I don't think it fits with the request for "learning the concepts of Kinematics, Newton laws, 2D Motion of Object etc". This should not be a first book on Classical Mechanics. –  Flint72 Apr 13 '14 at 22:42

Go for Concepts of Physics by H.C Verma.
It's a two volume series and has very good conceptual exercise, problems and objective type questions.

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I recommend "Thinking Physics" by Lewis Carroll Epstein. It's a long accumulation of conceptual problems in introductory physics, for example, "Suppose you drop a ball out a window and it hits the ground at 3 m/s. Now you throw a ball out the same window straight down at 4 m/s. How fast will it hit the ground?" The answer is 5 m/s, and the book illustrates how these numbers are related to the Pythagorean theorem due to kinetic energy depending on the square of velocity. I learned a lot by working through this book as a supplemental text when I was a college freshman.

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Physics-Understandable-Practical-Reality/dp/0935218084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298917867&sr=8-1

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These two, by Jacob Pieter Den Hartog, are excellent. Classical applied mechanics (a.k.a. engineering). Wonderful introductions, easy to read and pedagogical!

Mechanics

Mecahnical vibrations

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Paired with:

There is something very efficient about the economy of Soviet authors, who use very few words to say a whole lot.

I read from these books and learnt well :)

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Jewett and Serway "Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics" 8th edition.

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The Best book: Fundamentals of Physics by Resnick and Halliday

Wiley site

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protected by Qmechanic♦May 25 '13 at 13:11

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