Do not buy this! Formulae are incorrect and the book is littered with Errors.
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I had lectures from Martin McCall and what has been said above is correct, it is merely a rehash of lecture notes.
While studying this module everyone who had purchased this book had to bring it to lectures to correct the derivations, about 50% of which have mistakes in them.
There are many far better books out there.
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Excellent, clear explanation to Mechanics
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I found this book to be an excellent explanation to the subject for my purposes (Physics undergraduate). The book is written very clearly and just reading through a few chapters explained to me very clearly concepts which my university lecturer struggled to bring across.
I would say this book is slightly more 'word-based' than 'equation-based', though obviously it being about mechanics you will find your fair share of equations in here (thankfully!) however because of this I found it more useful to read, say, 2 or 3 pages at a go than to merely consult it for formulae This suited me fine as I have all the formulae/equations etc written down in my notes.
For me, the purpose of getting this book was to get to grips with and get a more sound understanding of classical mechanics - in other words to help me decipher the lecture notes I'd copied down the past term; as such this book's been great and I'd recommend it to anyone seeking to get a better understanding of basic classical mechanics, or as a textbook to accompany you on a mechanics course, perhaps giving you a slightly different take on the subject at times.
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a former student's view
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Unfortunately this book seems to be little more than a rewrite of Dr.McCall's lecture notes for his course. While his students may find this a useful purchase I would not recomned this to anyone else, especially when compared with any of the many other good texts available. As (almost) always in undergraduate physics, refer to Feynmann for a truly inspired point of view.
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A very accessible introduction to mechanics
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McCall writes in a style that is very accessible to 1st Year Undergraduates and he is very thorough and methodical. The book is suited perfectly to those embarking on their first course in undergraduate physics - an excellent introduction to the rigour of university level study. However, if you are looking for a text to merely dip in and out of, then this book may not be for you, since some of the notation and derivations are not standard - and it does not contain any advanced topics.
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Clear explanations, and a very thorough layout
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Martin Mccall attempts to immitate a literary genius in this book, when all he needs to do is be himself because he evidently has the ability to convey newtonian and einsteinian mechanics in a clever and thoughtful way. Watch out for the jargon though Martin!
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