The Theoretical Minimum

A master teacher presents the ultimate introduction to classical mechanics for people who are serious about learning physics

“Beautifully clear explanations of famously ‘difficult’ things,” — Wall Street Journal

If you ever regretted not taking physics in college — or simply want to know how to think like a physicist — this is the book for you. In this bestselling introduction to classical mechanics, physicist Leonard Susskind and hacker-scientist George Hrabovsky offer a first course in physics and associated math for the ardent amateur. Challenging, lucid, and concise, The Theoretical Minimum provides a tool kit for amateur scientists to learn physics at their own pace

Table of Contents

Lecture 1: The Nature of Classical Physics

Lecture 2: Motion

Lecture 3: Dynamics

Lecture 4: Systems of More Than One Particle

Lecture 5: Energy

Lecture 6: The Principle of Least Action

Lecture 7: Symmetries and Conservation Laws

Lecture 8: Hamiltonian Mechanics and Time-Translation Invariance

Lecture 9: The Phase Space Fluid and the Gibbs-Liouville Theorem

Lecture 10: Poisson Brackets, Angular Momentum, and Symmetries

Lecture 11: Electric and Magnetic Forces

Appendix 1: Central Forces and Planetary Orbits

Review

“Beautifully clear explanations of famously ‘difficult things.'”―John Gribbin, Wall Street Journal

“What a wonderful and unique resource. For anyone who is determined to learn physics for real, looking beyond conventional popularizations, this is the ideal place to start.”―Sean Carroll, New York Times-bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden

“A spectacular effort to make the real stuff of theoretical physics accessible to amateurs.”―Tom Siegfried, Science News

“Very readable. Abstract concepts are well explained…. [The Theoretical Minimum] does provide a clear description of advanced classical physics concepts, and gives readers who want a challenge the opportunity to exercise their brain in new ways.”―Lowry Kirkby, Physics World

“Readers ready to embrace their inner applied mathematics will enjoy this brisk, bare-bares introduction to classical mechanics.”―Publishers Weekly

About the Authors

Leonard Susskind is the Felix Bloch Professor in Theoretical Physics at Stanford University. He is the author of the forthcoming General Relativity: The Theoretical Minimum (with André Cabannes); Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory (with Art Friedman); and The Theoretical Minimum (with George Hrabovsky), among other books. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

George Hrabovsky is the president of Madison Area Science and Technology (MAST), a nonprofit organization dedicated to scientific and technological research and education. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.