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Summary: DO NOT USE THIS AS A FIRST BOOK!!
Review: This book contains for more math than words, and should only be used by readers who are already fairly familiar with mechanics. Not that there is nothing to be learned from this book--there is! There is plenty of theory contained here, but if you don't know the ropes already, you'll be lost faster than Gore in his backyard. You need to be at least an undergrad who has taken an intro. to mechanics course before reading this text.
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Summary: it is basically awful
Review: this book does not give any insight on the classical theory of mechanics.Also there is not enough explanations on the subjects.and as an additional disadvantage to all these it does not provide good examples for the reader. the writer should have provided much more figures for the reader in order to make his subjects more clear
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: This book is great for advanced undergrad mechanics. I used it first time through and thought it wonderful. All you need is a little bit of DiffEq and some Linear Algebra (all of which he gives you in Chapter 1). Chapters 12-13 are a little tricky, but Marion does a thorough job.
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Summary: ........
Review: This is a good general text which mixes traditional Newtonian formalism and the Lagrange-Hamilton approach throughout. I tend to prefer Landau's masterful treatment of Lagrangian mechanics in the first volume of the Course of Theoretical Physics. But if your professor is using this book, it has clear exposition and is a good general reference. .....................
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Summary: Very Good Book
Review: This is a good intermediate mechanics book for an upper level undergraduate physics course. One must have mastered Introductory Physics 1&2, Calculus 1,2&3, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra before attempting to read this book. Like most Physics and Math books this is not meant for lite reading. Math and physics texts should be read with scrutiny and a paper and pencil at hand. The problems are a bit difficult but the student solutions manual is a great resource to have. Armed with the right tools this book is an insightful read. I recommend it to all math and science majors alike.
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Summary: No continuity of thought
Review: This is by far the worst book on mechanics I have seen. There is no attempt to form any conceptual basis about the actual physics of what's going on. The first few chapters on basic Newtonian physics were interesting (mainly because I knew it all), but later chapters were impossible to learn from. Landau&Lifshiz offers a much clearer description of Lagrange-Hamilton mechanics and makes the variational calculus needed for L&H simpler. I wish someone would have told me that while I was taking the course.
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Summary: Good text, worthless binding.
Review: This text is well written and enjoyable. Thornton takes pains to explain in English what he's doing with the mathematics. However, the manufacture of the book is terrible. I had only been using the book for a few months when it split in half right down the spine.
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Summary: i had almost given up physics for that
Review: We had this book in the course of classical mechanics. Classical mechanics stands in the very heart of a physicist's bakground. If you want to spoil your background and insight with quite abstract notation, useless examples, struggling problems with few answers provided, this is the book for you.
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Summary: A Road to Higher Realms
Review: Whether knowingly or unknowingly, most of the physics text reviews that I have read may be divided into two categories:- those who loved or hated the book because it was not written to teach physics through a conceptual framework. - those who loved or hated the book because it was not written to teach physics through the development of skills. Then the reviews may be divided again into two categories: - those who loved or hated the book because it conveyed an exclusively classic and/or historical treatment of physics. - those who loved or hated the book because it conveyed a modern treatments of physics. Therefore, I will write my review within the same framework that everyone else seems to... I loved this book because it was written to teach physics through the development of SKILLS; I loved this book because it did so through a CLASSIC TREATMENT of physics. Now I will explain why... The study of physics is FAR MORE than an extraction of information from a book, the way that, say, reading an encyclopedia entry is. The study of physics, rather, is a MENTAL DISCIPLINE, that takes 10,000 hours of intensive mental effort just to become a 'fairly skilled beginner', and at least half a lifetime of intensive mental effort to become an expert in just one, very small, sub-sub-field. It is a journey in which one must tavel the same mental footsteps that the great physicists of the past did before one is ready to travel the new and original mental footsteps of their own research activity. Along the way, one must start with easy treatments, must progress through the intermediate treatments, and must one day tackle the tremendously difficult advanced treatments, of every sub-field of study. Early in the study of a new stage of such a sub-field, one must obtain a solid understanding of every concept, and after this, they must move on from mere concepts, and must develop an exceptional skill set. And one day, if one has been utterly dedicated and unwavering, and if one has worked harder than they ever thought would be necessary when they stood at the beginning of the road... one WILL find that they have reached a higher realm. I am utterly convinced that this book is the ideal written work that one should study at the time and place in the journey that it is usually encountered on this road.
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Summary: No fuss over mathematical formalism here!
Review: Why is everyone complaining about the mathematical formalism in this text? While perhaps such formalism requires a certain level of mathematical maturity on the part of the reader, it does *not* detract from pedagogy. In my opinion, it is better to become used to such formalism in the context of classical dynamics, where intuition can be of great help, than later on, and please, calculus and linear algebra is all that's required! It's not *that* formal! I'd also like to say that the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian sections present one of the more lucid explanations that I have seen. Finally, no, the author does not give you an example problem and then ask you to do the same problem with different numbers at the end of the chapter--he assumes you could do that. If you can't read a book that doesn't have such trivial problems for you to work, perhaps you should go elsewhere. The problems in this book are often challenging, and require you to extrapolate from the previous chapters. I find such problems more interesting than ones that require you to only look back in the chapter, grab two equations, eliminate one variable, and then plug in numbers. I'm not sure why everyone has jumped on the "the problems aren't worded well" bandwagon either, as I have encountered very little ambiguity throughout this book. If you want to master classical dynamics, this isn't the only book you'll want to work through, but it certainly should be on your list.
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