David Ritz Finkelstein
Sussman and Wisdom have reinvented classical mechanics for the computer age, freeing their students from the unrealistic integrable systems that dominate the traditional course and leading them to realistic kinds of systems that can now be studied on modern computers. They do this with a passion for clarity and conceptual rigor that leads to new general insights as well. Soon we will all understand the Legendre transformation in their new and elegant way.
Endorsement
How can one write a new book on classical mechanics? Hasn't everything already been said? No! Things have changed. Now that there are computers, you can actually solve the equations of motion for interesting problems. Mathematical niceties are not the obsession of the authors, but rather to find out what happens, by a natural combination of mathematical argument and computer use. This new and effective approach should attract students to a subject which, since Newton, has constantly managed to rejuvenate itself. This second edition has kept the principles that made the value of the first, with a number of improvements concerning in particular computer-implemented methods.
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David Ruelle, Honorary Professor, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifique, France
From the Publisher
Sussman and Wisdom make a bold experiment in communicating mathematical physics: they say exactly what they mean. Even a computer can follow their equations. By using this textbook, students painlessly master Scheme, a minimalist programming language, at the same time. This empowers them to go beyond the simplistic integrable systems that dominate the traditional course, to the richness of nonlinear resonance and chaotic dynamics. The hard core of rigor is softened by a personal and enthusiastic writing style.
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David Ritz Finkelstein, School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
With many new additions, from quaternions to Lie transforms, the core virtue of the book remains the same as in the first edition: by making the physics precise enough to run on a computer, the authors open the door to a deeper understanding of classical reality, with the promise of a deeper understanding of all reality.
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Piet Hut, Professor of Astrophysics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
How can one write a new book on classical mechanics? Hasn't everything already been said? No! Things have changed. Now that there are computers, you can actually solve the equations of motion for interesting problems. Mathematical niceties are not the obsession of the authors, but rather to find out what happens, by a natural combination of mathematical argument and computer use. This new and effective approach should attract students to a subject which, since Newton, has constantly managed to rejuvenate itself. This second edition has kept the principles that made the value of the first, with a number of improvements concerning in particular computer-implemented methods.
—
David Ruelle, Honorary Professor, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifique, France
