Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics is a nice book to read after SICP if you like torturing your brain with extremely thorough material written by and for geniuses that want to master something everybody think he knows bu he really doesn't.

Heh. I bought SICM expecting it would be "SICP for physics". I started reading and felt out of my depth after just a few pages. But it seemed interesting, so I got a Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics book and started reading that. That was 6 months ago, I'm about halfway through and I'm really enjoying it! Learning Lagrangian mechanics when all your life you only ever heard about the Newtonian approach is a lot like stumbling upon Scheme after years of programming in C. I'm looking forward to cracking the cover of SICM once more this summer!

SICM is not like SICP at all. SICM assumes you're pretty well versed in classical mechanics and already have an understanding of both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. Don't be fooled by the title and authors of the book!

Also by Sussman - well worth looking into http://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/s... (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/sicm/book.html)

It's not strictly math, and I can't recommend it from experience, but I've always been curious what a beginner's reaction to _Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics_ might be. It's free here: http://mitpress.mit.edu/SICM/book.html