Introduction to Mechanics and Symmetry: A Basic Exposition of Classical Mechanical Systems (Texts in Applied Mathematics)

Rating:
Summary: whatch the index
Review: I truely liked the book, but in the edition I have got, the whole index is messed up, i.e. you find the keyword a few pages below the page given in the index. Probably this blunder will not be repeated in coming up editions...I hope so, because the book is worth being used.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written about a beautiful subject
Review: This text is a must read for aspiring mathematical physicists. Here the inherent geometric nature of classical mechanics is laid bare; revealed in its most beautiful form. There is much material in this text. That material falls roughly into two categories. First, there is material of the well known variety: Manifolds, Lie Algebras, Sympletic spaces, Symplectic manifolds, Langrange's equations, Hamilton's equations, Poission's brackets and so on. That material is concisely and precisely presented making those portions alone a thoroughly pleasurable read. The second variety of material is lesser known results. For example, Quantum mechanics formulated through Schrodinger's eqtn as a *classical system*, geometric formulation of Noether's theorem, Poisson manifolds, the theory of Casimir invariants and its relation to foliation of symplectic manifolds. This second variety of material is truly beautiful to see. The results are surprising when seen for the first time and they beg the reader to go futher themselves.