In response to Dan Schroder's inquiry for a text on mechanics, I am now
using "Elements of Newtonian Mechanics", by J.M. Knudsen and P.J. Hjorth,
second edition, published by Springer, 1996. The course is the first
semester of a two semester sophomore or junior level course intended for
physics majors.
So far, I am quite pleased with the book. It is a more interesting read
than the texts I have used before. I like the emphasis on history that
opens the book, and the numerous paragraphs quoted from works of Kepler,
Galileo, Newton.
The second edition contains a chapter on nonlinear mechanics and chaos,
which may give an opportunity for some modern physics to be taught. It is
available in paperback for $40.
The authors are two Danish educators, who have used the text as a first
semester text for first year undergraduates at the Niels Bohr Institute.
(European undergraduates know more science on entering college, than
American.)
The math level assumes little. No vector analysis is presupposed, and only
the gradient operator is discussed. An Appendix reviews elementary vector
concepts. The student only needs to know how to add vectors and
differentiate and integrate elementary functions.
Allen Miller
Physics Department
Syracuse University
(315) 443-5962