Classical mechanics is likely the topic most people would start with when learning physics. This is because classical mechanics is the most intuitive branch of physics for a lot of people (especially for those trying to self-study).
Most importantly, however, learning classical mechanics provides you with the essential tools you’ll need when you go further on your physics journey.
From classical mechanics, you’ll learn the important mathematics of how physical systems are modeled as well as stuff like Lagrangians and Hamiltonians, which come up EVERYWHERE in more advanced physics.
On this page, you’ll find my top 3 recommended reads on classical mechanics and who they are best suited for as well as a tool I created to help you choose the perfect self-study resource tailored just for what you’re looking to learn.
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How To Find The Perfect Self-Study Resource For You (The Classical Mechanics Self-Study Tool)
Now, finding the right learning resource that suits you perfectly is extremely difficult. There are thousands of different books and other stuff out there and going through them all is literally impossible.
That’s why I’ve created a free tool that will help you find a self-study resource tailored specifically for your learning style and goals (whether it be a textbook or a video course, for example). The tool can be found below (it may take a few seconds to load).
My Top 3 Book Recommendations For Classical Mechanics
There are countless books on classical mechanics out there, but here I’ve distilled them to my top 3 picks (believe me, it wasn’t an easy choice!). These are the top 3 books on classical mechanics that have helped me the most:
- Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind (click to check current price on Amazon) – This is my recommendation for beginners who want more of a quick read that focuses mostly on the underlying theoretical principles of classical mechanics and explains them in an intuitive and insightful way.
- Physics For Scientists and Engineers 9th Edition w/ Modern Physics by Jewett & Serway (click to check current price on Amazon) – This book is for anyone wanting to learn more of the real-world applications of physics as it includes tons of practice problems and engineering applications. Solutions to the practice problems can be found for free here.
- No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics by Jakob Schwichtenberg (click to check current price on Amazon) – This is my #1 recommendation overall as it covers almost all topics quite thoroughly, but does it in a way that’s easy to understand even for beginners. It also compares the different formulations of classical mechanics really nicely.
Down below I’ve included more information on each of these books and why they are my favourites.
Why I Picked These 3 Books & Who They’re Best Suited For
Here, I’ve explained why I picked these 3 books above as well as who I’d recommend them to as well as what areas of classical mechanics they cover so that you can find the best one for your personal needs.
Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind
I would recommend Susskind’s Theoretical Minimum for anyone who is more of a beginner and just wants to know the bare minimum of what classical mechanics and theoretical physics (which is the main focus of the book, Susskind being a theoretical physicist himself) is all about. That’s sort of the whole point of the Theoretical Minimum book series.
The book is quite a quick read (only a little over 200 pages long), but it does cover the basics of Lagrangians and Hamiltonians really well as well as some of the applications of these.
This is exactly the book I first read when I began to learn Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics and even now I still sometimes refer back to it, simply because of the excellent and insightful way Susskind explains everything.
I’d say all you need to understand this book is a basic high school -level knowledge of math and physics.
You might not even need that or almost any previous knowledge, since the first 75 or so pages cover quite well everything you have to know about the basics (the necessary math, Newton’s laws, motion in general etc.).
The rest of the book is then focused on Lagrangian mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics as well as the applications of these formulations. Here are the exact topics that are covered in the book:
Also, you can find Susskind’s lectures on Youtube, which are basically condensed versions of the chapters found in the book (although the book includes a lot more stuff). The lectures go really well hand-in-hand with the book.
What I really liked about The Theoretical Minimum is that it includes tons of Susskind’s wonderful insights, which really make the concepts easily understandable. There are also quite a bit of examples to demonstrate how everything works in practice.
I suppose the only downside about this book is that it doesn’t have terribly many practice problems for you to do yourself (although there are some) since the focus of the book is mostly on the theoretical aspects and the underlying principles of classical mechanics.
All in all though, this book is absolutely wonderful for beginners (even for someone with more knowledge, it’s still a very insightful read) and I’d recommend it as a great starting point for anyone wanting to learn classical mechanics, especially for beginners who wish to learn theoretical physics.
Physics For Scientists and Engineers by Jewett & Serway
Physics For Scientists and Engineers by Jewett & Serway is pretty much a standard textbook in many colleges and it’s definitely clear why. This book has pretty much everything you’d need to know about classical physics (the book itself has over 1400 pages!).
The book is mainly aimed at people who are more interested in learning about applications of physics (to engineering, among other things) as well as those wanting to do lots of practice problems.
Now, my only downside with this book and the fact that it is mainly geared towards engineering applications is that it doesn’t cover some of the more abstract theoretical things in classical mechanics, like Lagrangians and Hamiltonians.
Otherwise, though, the book is absolutely wonderful. It includes everything from mechanics to electromagnetism and thermodynamics and it even has a decent bit about quantum mechanical applications, such as superconductors.
This is exactly what the book includes:
Every chapter also has a ton of different practice problems with varying difficulties, which is what makes this book so great. There is probably well over a thousand exercises in total (no, I did not count them all).
Now, if you wish to actually get the book, I’d recommend getting the specific edition named Physics For Scientists and Engineers 9th Edition with Modern Physics (link to the book page).
The 9th edition is among the newest ones and I’ve heard that it’s the best one of them. Personally, I have the 4th edition, which I got from my dad as it was his old college engineering textbook.
All of the editions do cover pretty much the same topics, the exercises and the overall structure may be a little different. The main problem with the older editions is that the solutions to exercises are very difficult to find anywhere on the internet.
So, my recommendation is to get the 9th edition. You’ll find the solutions to the practice problems easily for free online, such as from here.
No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics by Jakob Schwichtenberg
The goal of the No-Nonsense book series is to basically teach you the underlying principles of why certain theories exist and why they’re important, which is what many textbooks seem to miss. No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics (link to the book page), in fact, does explain the deep principles underlying all of classical mechanics extremely well.
This book definitely is focused more on the intuitive reasoning behind all the classical mechanics concepts. It doesn’t just throw a bunch of math at you like many books do, but actually focuses on explaining why we need certain mathematical tools, for example.
Something I also love about this book is the fact that all of the derivations and calculations are done in a step-by-step fashion and nothing is assumed as “easy to see” or “left as an exercise for the reader”. This really makes this particular book stand out as a wonderful self-study resource since that’s what it seems to be aimed at.
It may seem I’m just praising this book, but to be honest, it deserves that.
No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics is just such an enlightening read and it works as a perfect overview of pretty much all important topics in classical mechanics. I think this book gives something to everyone, even to those already familiar with these topics, because of its beautifully insightful explanations.
Now, more practically, the main topics covered in the book are the Lagrangian, the Hamiltonian and the Newtonian formulations and also the applications of these (there are, however, also lots of more advanced topics in the book, such as symmetries, the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation as well as where the classical Lagrangian, T-V, actually comes from).
The main theme in the book is the comparison of these three big formulations and also explaining the underlying laws of nature behind each of these, such as where they come from and what principles the’re based on.
All in all, I’d highly recommend this book for pretty much everyone actually because of its insightful way of explaining ideas. Jakob Schwichtenberg being a theoretical physicist really makes this book quite eye-opening and makes this a fantastic read both for beginners as well as those already familiar with the topics.