Help with choosing interesting and useful books

In summary, the conversation is about finding helpful and interesting books for a university course on dynamics and vector calculus. The syllabus for the course includes topics such as Newtonian dynamics, simple harmonic motion, conservation laws, central forces, and vector calculus. The suggested books are "An Elementary Treatise on Dynamics of a Particle and of Rigid Bodies" by S.L. Loney, "Engineering Mechanics - Dynamics" by A. Pytel and J. Kiusalaas, and "Div, Grad, Curl, and All That" by H.M. Schey. The conversation also suggests asking the course instructor for recommendations and mentions "Classical Mechanics" by John Taylor as a comprehensive book for dynamics.
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I am about to start a second year university course called dynamics and vector calculus and there is not very much (or any information) on good books to help with the course and I was wondering if anybody out there knew of some helpful/interesting books in theses subjects?
The course syllabus is:
Dynamics
• Introduction to Dynamics, Ordinary Differential Equations, Newtonian dynamics, Reference frames. Projectiles.
• Momentum. Variable mass problems. Rocket equation.
• Simple harmonic motion. Harmonic oscillator. Damped SHM. Forced SHM.
• Conservation laws. Conservative forces. Conservation of energy and momentum.
• Central forces. Potential. Angular Momentum. Orbits.
• Inverse square forces. Gravity. Kepler’s laws.
• Coupled oscillators. Normal modes. Compound pendulums.

Vector Calculus
• Introduction to fields. Equipotentials. Scalar and vector fields.
• Gradient. Divergence. Curl. Laplacian operator. Vector operator identities.
• Line integrals, surface integrals, and volume integrals – in Cartesian and curvilinear coordinates.
• Divergence Theorem. Flux and the continuity equation. Gauss Law.
• Stokes’ Theorem, Scalar potential. Conservative forces and fields.
• Poisson’s equation. Vector potential.
• Curvilinear surfaces. Line, surface, volume elements, div, grad, curl in orthogonal curvilinear
coordinates.
Thank you
 
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"An elementary treatise on dynamics of a particle and of rigid bodies" by S.L.Loney is good but it is quite "mathematical", also I'm not sure if it is easily available in the market.
Also try "Engineering Mechanics - Dynamics" by A. Pytel and J. Kiusalaas.
For vector calculus " div,grad,curl and all that" by H.M.Schey is really good for beginners.
However since you'll get thousand answers from thousand people, the best way is to ask your course instructor.
 

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5. Are there any resources or tools that can help with choosing interesting and useful books?

Yes, there are many resources and tools available to help with choosing interesting and useful books. Online book clubs, book recommendation websites, and book review blogs are great places to start. Many libraries also offer book suggestion services and have staff who can provide personalized recommendations based on your interests and goals.

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