Rating: 
Summary: Great at Lagrangian & Hamiltonian Dynamics,
Review: I am unsure on why the ratings of this textbook are so low, it is a very solid textbook on undergraduate mechanics. Its treatment of the caclulus of varations and Lagrangian & Hamiltonian dynamics is very elegant and clear. It is the best treatment out there at the undergraduate level. In other topics it is strong as well, but not as strong as the Lagrangian/Hamiltonian treatment. The physical ideas conveyed are very good. The math is not really that formal, it just requires what is needed to do Analytical mechanics: the normal calculus sequence, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra. The problems are not easy, but you can not expect them to be at this level of physics. The only stumbling block of the textbook is at times the mathematical notation (outside of Lagrangian/Hamiltonian Dynamics) is cumbersome and just plain bad. It is just notation however, and it just needs getting used to.
Rating: 
Summary: Ad tedium
Review: I came to this course after taking honors freshman physics at Yale with An Intro to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow. And, unfortunately, this book just is not as good. The mathematical derivations are often tedious and uninsightful, a good description as well for many of the problems. In addition, many of the problems, particularly the tougher ones, are already worked out in the text. For me, the text is a combination of mediocre treatment of material with exceptionally poor problems. The problems in this text are, in general, easier than those in K&K, but they often take three times as long to write out. Many of them are exercises in 10th grade algebra, or 12th grade calculus (read: horrible integrals and looong expressions to simplify). What is required is not insight, but exceptional care at not making simple errors and patience for long derivations of often obvious results. For a physics major, this book just seems like a colossal waste of time and money. If you want reinforcement of concepts, turn to Feynman in his lectures. For insightful and challenging mechanics (though Hamiltonian and Lagrangian dynamics are missing), Kleppner and Kolenkow is a far better text.
Rating:
Summary: Ad tedium
Review: I came to this course after taking honors freshman physics at Yale with An Intro to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow. And, unfortunately, this book just is not as good. The mathematical derivations are often tedious and uninsightful, a good description as well for many of the problems. In addition, many of the problems, particularly the tougher ones, are already worked out in the text. For me, the text is a combination of mediocre treatment of material with exceptionally poor problems. The problems in this text are, in general, easier than those in K&K, but they often take three times as long to write out. Many of them are exercises in 10th grade algebra, or 12th grade calculus (read: horrible integrals and looong expressions to simplify). What is required is not insight, but exceptional care at not making simple errors and patience for long derivations of often obvious results. For a physics major, this book just seems like a colossal waste of time and money. If you want reinforcement of concepts, turn to Feynman in his lectures. For insightful and challenging mechanics (though Hamiltonian and Lagrangian dynamics are missing), Kleppner and Kolenkow is a far better text.
Rating:
Summary: A not-so-bad book on mechanics
Review: I don't understand why the reviews are so negative on the book. It's certainly not at the top level of undergrad physics books, like Griffiths E&M for example. however, it present the basics in a fairly easy to read and easy to follow way. The price is ridiculous, but most physics textbooks aren't far off from the amount. If you want to see a truly bad undergrad physics textbook that should have been buried long ago, go look at Reif's Stat. Phys. book.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated Mechanics text
Review: I fail to understand why is this book become a standard required text for undergrad mechanics in all the major American universities. The book describes at length esoteric problems and concepts (such as the falling chain tension using energy conservation in chater 9) while completely ignores basic things such as Principle of Virtual work,statics & stability in systems of Particles. In all it is an average text with lot of useless space age stuff which the author seems to brag about.
Rating:
Summary: horrible book
Review: I had the displeasure of using this book over the course of two semesters. "Classical Dynamics" is poorly constructed, gives weak examples, and the explanations are less than clear. The first five chapters seem like a pitiful extension to physics 1. My plea to professors, please stop using certain textbooks just out of tradition.
Rating:
Summary: An awful text
Review: I had the misfortune of taking a class that used this book. This book contains piles of mathematical expressions barely any of which are adequatelly explained. This text is intended to be used in courses that introduce mathematical methods in physics, what it actually does, is present some qualitative ideas and some equations that don't really seem to connect to the text unless you already know the material. This book would make a nice rewiew material for someone who learned the subject already, however, in no way it provides any real insight into the priciples of physics that it attempts to explain. This book really is one of those unfortunate examples that are targeted at beginnig students, but are only readable to professors.
Rating:
Summary: WHY IS THIS TEXT SO WIDELY USED?
Review: I had to use this poorly written, overpriced book for my course at Cal State L.A. There are insufficient examples, some of which are confusing, and the binding seems to have been deliberately designed to fall apart after a few months (to limit the used market?). The problems sets are sorely lacking in imagination and, as others have noted, poorly worded. I would recommend the Schaum's outline in theoretical mechanics by Murray Spiegel. It is inexpensive and contains a wealth of good examples. When you finally get to sell back Marion at the end of the course , you will still have a good reference on intermediate mechanics and won't feel as bad about the money you lost on M&T.
Rating:
Summary: A decent text for an undergraduate mechanics class...
Review: I have recently completed a course on advanced mechanics using this book, at Cornell University as a Sophmore physics major. I thought this text did a decent job on most topics, although did not go into adequate depth in some places. However, the most important topic of the book, Lagranian and Hamilonian mechanics was well written. For those who are interested in going into more detail, I would recommend Goldstien.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't think the book deserves the low rating it has
Review: I haven't used any other mechanics text, so I have no basis of comparison, but I was surprised at how low this text's rating was so I'm giving it 5 stars to boost it. I thought the text was very clear and found the "formalism" refreshing after three semesters of mind-numbing Halliday and Resnick type texts. Also, there is plenty of material here (if it's used as a one semester text).
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