The Variational Principles of Mechanics
Cornelius Lanczos
7 people recommended it in 3 threads, 2015–2020.
What people on Hacker News said
Many of the scientific treatises of today are formulated in a half-mystical language, as though to impress the reader with the uncomfortable feeling that he is in the permanent presence of a superman. The present book is conceived in a humble spirit and is written for humble people.
We have done considerable mountain climbing. Now we are in the rarefied atmosphere of theories of excessive beauty and we are nearing a high plateau on which geometry, optics, mechanics, and wave mechanics meet on common ground.
this is a physics book, but one of the classics in the subject, and as Gerald Sussman once remarked, you glean new insights each time you read it.
I referred to the Lanczos book quite often when I was working on my PhD.
It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explaining classical mechanics.
His "Linear Differential Operators" was the best math book I read in years so I'm looking forward to it.
Where it comes up
- Prof. Sussman's Reading List 2015 · 5 recommendations
- Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read? 2020 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics? 2019 · 1 recommendation