John R. Taylor Classical Mechanics Reviews Summary

Comprehensive material

Motivates ideas

Excellent explanations

Good treatment of variational calculus

Thorough and detailed

Pedagogical masterpiece

Progressive level

Clear explanations

Dry and difficult to read

Some dissatisfaction with explanations

Mathematical expressions not so good

Lack of mathematical maturity

Outdated treatment of special relativity

Confusing treatment of rotation

Lack of explanation for abandoning Lagrangian formalism

Defects in presentation of solid body motion