Classical Mechanics by Kibble Berkshire

[tridianprime]

I was recommended this by a friend. I'm going to get K&K but I was wondering what you thought of this book if you have read it. Is it good for beginners? Comprehensive? General comments?

Thank you,

Tridian

 

[tridianprime]

Has anyone read it? Is it not very commonly used? It is used in Imperial College London where Kibble works and ICL is one if the top in the country so does that say anything?

 

[jtbell]

I've never read it, but judging from the reviews on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1860944353/?tag=pfamazon01-20

it's not an introductory book, but rather intended for graduate or advanced senior-undergraduate level.

This is basically the most abstract classical mechanics book at the senior undergraduate level. While there are merits to this abstractness, it's not the best book to use when you're first starting to learn upper-division CM.

this book is not an introductory college text or anything equivalent

I would not consider it as a substitute for Halliday/Resnick or similar first-year physics textbooks, or even Kleppner/Kolenkow. Note that "upper-division CM" in the first quote refers to books on the level of Marion/Thornton or Fowles/Cassiday, which are commonly used for junior/senior year undergraduate CM courses.