---
product_id: 2629318
title: "The Theoretical Minimum"
price: "R$268"
currency: BRL
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reviews_count: 13
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---

# The Theoretical Minimum

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## Description

A master physicist and a self-taught scientist present the ultimate introduction to classical mechanics for people who are serious about learning physics A New York Times Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year “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.

Review: This book and the ones that will follow are important. Make them happen. - The "Theorical Minimum" was the name of the exam that applicants had to pass in order to enter the theoretical physics department of the Kharkov Physicotechnical Institute headed by Lev Davidovich Landau. L. D. Landau, along with A.I. Kitaigorodskii, is also known to have written a serie of four great popular science books presenting general physics to young people, "Physics for everyone" (which happens to be the name of Leonard Susskind's blog too...). I'm wondering if "The Theoretical Minimum: what you need to know to start doing physics" couldn't be the first book of a follow-up to "Physics for everyone". I've studied physics in university but I've stopped before starting working on a PhD. That was more than ten years ago and I needed to earn a living but I still loved science especially physics. One day I've discovered the Leonard Susskind's Theoretical Minimum courses on Youtube and Itunes and I was litterally astonished by them as they are exactly what I was looking for: not courses for advanced undergraduate students, not popular science presentations devoid of any technicity (theoretical physics without maths is an empty shell: theoretical physics is about creating mathematical models of the physical world) but courses for people like me who knew some maths and physics at one point of their life and that want to learn the concepts of theoretical physics. Each course is made of about ten lectures, each lectures lasting about two hours. Watching these is quite time consuming and time is sparse if you have a job and a family. Also the courses were sometimes a little sketchy or not quite well organized (especially the first run... the second run is a lot better). The material simply had to be reworked and layed out on paper. George Hrabovsky felt these were necessary too so he contacted Leonard Susskind and voila, we now have a book, the first of a whole serie, the one about classical mechanics. I knew about some of the material in the book. In the quantum mechanics (QM) courses I followed I learned about least-action principle, Lagrangians, Hamiltonians (fundamental in QM) and Poisson brackets (their siblings, commutators, are also fundamental in QM). The problem is that these notions and their purpose didn't make sense to me. I wasn't told or I didn't have time to realize their conceptual power and that they could be used in classical mechanics: use of Lagrangian formalism to understand the double pendulum, use of Poisson brackets to determine the behavior of a charged rotor in a magnetic field. Also I wasn't told about Noether's theorem (relationship between symmetries and conserved quantities), Liouville's theorem (well perhaps in statistical mechanics... I'm not sure) or the importance of gauge fields (vector potential field is one) but that may be because I wasn't taught to be a theoricist. Here Leonard Susskind's a guide who shows us the elegance of all these concepts and prepares us to a voyage to quantum physics and field theories.The book shows the coherence of these concepts, it structures the reader's mind (if he makes the proper efforts by doing the exercises: doing exercises are necessary to learn and understand). George Hrabovsky brought us a great contribution by making the text more accessible (in the videos the student is assumed to know about calculus and general physics) and whipping out ambiguities. The book isn't entirely self-contained though (for example total differentials or Taylor series are used without these notions being introduced... just search "Taylor series" and "total derivative" in Wikipedia) but George will provide some support to the reader in his web site. Theoretical Minimum - Classical Mechanics isn't another popular science book. It's a book that you'll have to work through a bit but it's a book that will structure your perception of our physical world. This book is the first of a serie that could become somehow the theoretical physics equivalent of Feynman's Lectures. You won't become a theorical physicist just by working through this book and the ones that will follow (have a look at a Quantum Field Theory textbook and you'll see). However if you are interested in physics (not only theoretical) the book will tell you about the concepts used in physics, how physicists manipulate them, how physicists do math and what makes physicists tick. I really hope that this book will be translated in many languages.
Review: A Good Way To Experience A General Formulation Of Classical Physics - I was a biology major as an undergraduate and was required to take general physics with lab. Upon graduation I enrolled in a Masters program in physiology and was shocked at the math and physics details of some of the topics! It was necessary to relearn and integrate topics of chemistry, mathematics, and physics; a very humbling endeavor! I had to do this mostly on my own! With much persistence I successfully completed the Masters program. The Masters program cast me into an unexpected world of integrated topics where mathematics, chemistry, and physics were interacting with each other in ways that were not apparent, to me, as an undergraduate. At this point I decided to pursue the Doctorate in the area of Molecular Biology and landed in a Chemistry Department in which my thesis advisor was a Physical Chemist during research on the solution conformations of protein molecules! The demands of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and their interrelationships reached a peak! I was panic-stricken but persisted by accepting the theories and their applications by mostly cobbling together the literature and relying on careful experimentation and data analysis! During this time it was possible for me to look at much of the classic work that had been done involving different formulations and the interrelationships of the chemistry, mathematics, and physics as applied in the world of macromolecules! Again I was successful in completing the program and received the degree; but there was always something missing! The thing that was missing, for me, is found in the book The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics by Leonard Susskind. Unfortunately for me, this is years after struggling with the more general formulations of Physic mostly on my own. The reason that this book is appealing is that it introduces material that is found in treatises written at a more advanced level in the space of a few pages and includes tractable exercises. However, one should not assume that no effort is required! The book will require some familiarity with math and physics which the author introduces throughout the book. The reward at the end of the book is an appreciation of the more general formulations of classical physics which are invaluable to physical scientists in general. You end up being in a better position to interpret later, the atomic and/or molecular nature of current physical science research and the associated technology. Yes there are errors in the original publication; many of which would not be easily recognized. However, there is an errata which can be downloaded. I made the indicated corrections which fall in both the major and minor categories. After reading and doing some of the more challenging exercises in this relatively brief book, I thumbed through some of the books that use the methods found in Susskind's book. The time spent reading Susskind's book is worth the effort! The criticism can be made that the book doesn't include the modern Quantum Physics that followed Classical Physics! This point should not be dismissed. However, one should not forget that the formulation of Quantum Physics is couched in the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulations of Classical Physics. The Hamiltonian formulation of Classical Physics is key to the formulation of the modern Quantum Physics and should not be taken lightly. The book by Susskind gives one a head start in absorbing the more abstract concepts of Quantum Physics! If you are interested in the classical concepts of energy and their formulations in the Quantum World, this book is worth considering! Additional good news: A Quantum Mechanics Volume, by the author, is in the works and scheduled to be released in early 2014.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #24,683 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Physics of Mechanics #7 in Adult & Continuing Education (Books) #9 in Science for Kids |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 1,096 Reviews |

## Images

![The Theoretical Minimum - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61t0nMTq3uL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book and the ones that will follow are important. Make them happen.
*by L***N on February 9, 2013*

The "Theorical Minimum" was the name of the exam that applicants had to pass in order to enter the theoretical physics department of the Kharkov Physicotechnical Institute headed by Lev Davidovich Landau. L. D. Landau, along with A.I. Kitaigorodskii, is also known to have written a serie of four great popular science books presenting general physics to young people, "Physics for everyone" (which happens to be the name of Leonard Susskind's blog too...). I'm wondering if "The Theoretical Minimum: what you need to know to start doing physics" couldn't be the first book of a follow-up to "Physics for everyone". I've studied physics in university but I've stopped before starting working on a PhD. That was more than ten years ago and I needed to earn a living but I still loved science especially physics. One day I've discovered the Leonard Susskind's Theoretical Minimum courses on Youtube and Itunes and I was litterally astonished by them as they are exactly what I was looking for: not courses for advanced undergraduate students, not popular science presentations devoid of any technicity (theoretical physics without maths is an empty shell: theoretical physics is about creating mathematical models of the physical world) but courses for people like me who knew some maths and physics at one point of their life and that want to learn the concepts of theoretical physics. Each course is made of about ten lectures, each lectures lasting about two hours. Watching these is quite time consuming and time is sparse if you have a job and a family. Also the courses were sometimes a little sketchy or not quite well organized (especially the first run... the second run is a lot better). The material simply had to be reworked and layed out on paper. George Hrabovsky felt these were necessary too so he contacted Leonard Susskind and voila, we now have a book, the first of a whole serie, the one about classical mechanics. I knew about some of the material in the book. In the quantum mechanics (QM) courses I followed I learned about least-action principle, Lagrangians, Hamiltonians (fundamental in QM) and Poisson brackets (their siblings, commutators, are also fundamental in QM). The problem is that these notions and their purpose didn't make sense to me. I wasn't told or I didn't have time to realize their conceptual power and that they could be used in classical mechanics: use of Lagrangian formalism to understand the double pendulum, use of Poisson brackets to determine the behavior of a charged rotor in a magnetic field. Also I wasn't told about Noether's theorem (relationship between symmetries and conserved quantities), Liouville's theorem (well perhaps in statistical mechanics... I'm not sure) or the importance of gauge fields (vector potential field is one) but that may be because I wasn't taught to be a theoricist. Here Leonard Susskind's a guide who shows us the elegance of all these concepts and prepares us to a voyage to quantum physics and field theories.The book shows the coherence of these concepts, it structures the reader's mind (if he makes the proper efforts by doing the exercises: doing exercises are necessary to learn and understand). George Hrabovsky brought us a great contribution by making the text more accessible (in the videos the student is assumed to know about calculus and general physics) and whipping out ambiguities. The book isn't entirely self-contained though (for example total differentials or Taylor series are used without these notions being introduced... just search "Taylor series" and "total derivative" in Wikipedia) but George will provide some support to the reader in his web site. Theoretical Minimum - Classical Mechanics isn't another popular science book. It's a book that you'll have to work through a bit but it's a book that will structure your perception of our physical world. This book is the first of a serie that could become somehow the theoretical physics equivalent of Feynman's Lectures. You won't become a theorical physicist just by working through this book and the ones that will follow (have a look at a Quantum Field Theory textbook and you'll see). However if you are interested in physics (not only theoretical) the book will tell you about the concepts used in physics, how physicists manipulate them, how physicists do math and what makes physicists tick. I really hope that this book will be translated in many languages.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Good Way To Experience A General Formulation Of Classical Physics
*by J***S on August 8, 2013*

I was a biology major as an undergraduate and was required to take general physics with lab. Upon graduation I enrolled in a Masters program in physiology and was shocked at the math and physics details of some of the topics! It was necessary to relearn and integrate topics of chemistry, mathematics, and physics; a very humbling endeavor! I had to do this mostly on my own! With much persistence I successfully completed the Masters program. The Masters program cast me into an unexpected world of integrated topics where mathematics, chemistry, and physics were interacting with each other in ways that were not apparent, to me, as an undergraduate. At this point I decided to pursue the Doctorate in the area of Molecular Biology and landed in a Chemistry Department in which my thesis advisor was a Physical Chemist during research on the solution conformations of protein molecules! The demands of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and their interrelationships reached a peak! I was panic-stricken but persisted by accepting the theories and their applications by mostly cobbling together the literature and relying on careful experimentation and data analysis! During this time it was possible for me to look at much of the classic work that had been done involving different formulations and the interrelationships of the chemistry, mathematics, and physics as applied in the world of macromolecules! Again I was successful in completing the program and received the degree; but there was always something missing! The thing that was missing, for me, is found in the book The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics by Leonard Susskind. Unfortunately for me, this is years after struggling with the more general formulations of Physic mostly on my own. The reason that this book is appealing is that it introduces material that is found in treatises written at a more advanced level in the space of a few pages and includes tractable exercises. However, one should not assume that no effort is required! The book will require some familiarity with math and physics which the author introduces throughout the book. The reward at the end of the book is an appreciation of the more general formulations of classical physics which are invaluable to physical scientists in general. You end up being in a better position to interpret later, the atomic and/or molecular nature of current physical science research and the associated technology. Yes there are errors in the original publication; many of which would not be easily recognized. However, there is an errata which can be downloaded. I made the indicated corrections which fall in both the major and minor categories. After reading and doing some of the more challenging exercises in this relatively brief book, I thumbed through some of the books that use the methods found in Susskind's book. The time spent reading Susskind's book is worth the effort! The criticism can be made that the book doesn't include the modern Quantum Physics that followed Classical Physics! This point should not be dismissed. However, one should not forget that the formulation of Quantum Physics is couched in the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulations of Classical Physics. The Hamiltonian formulation of Classical Physics is key to the formulation of the modern Quantum Physics and should not be taken lightly. The book by Susskind gives one a head start in absorbing the more abstract concepts of Quantum Physics! If you are interested in the classical concepts of energy and their formulations in the Quantum World, this book is worth considering! Additional good news: A Quantum Mechanics Volume, by the author, is in the works and scheduled to be released in early 2014.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book. Nightmarish Scenario.
*by W***N on December 24, 2025*

I don't know if I regret reading this book or not. Not because it is of poor quality, writing, or journalism, it is excellent on that account. While reading it I felt like a Lovecraftian character being absorbed by some ancient esoteric tome, obtaining knowledge that any common person probably shouldn't have if they wish to live peacefully. This book gives you a second by second and minute by minute breakdown of the mechanisms that exist within the United States' response to another nation attacking us with nuclear weapons. It is disquieting to know just how little time our leaders would have to react to an attack and how little we can do to defend ourselves other than to return the attack in-kind, just assuring the destruction of the world. I would give it 5 stars, as I said, it was excellent, except that I feel 4 stars would garner greater attention, and a prospective reader needs to know what they are getting into. This is a journalistic story about the literal worst case scenario that could happen in contemporary society. I highly recommend this to anyone that wishes to be informed of the precipice that we have been standing on for over half a century. It did the job of any journalistic endeavor; inform the reader of the truth, no matter how unsettling. Be warned, if you are unable to compartmentalize you will lose sleep. Given the quality contained here in, I will likely be reading the author's other works as well. I hope the subject matter of those feels less occult.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics
- Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum
- Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory: The Theoretical Minimum

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*Last updated: 2026-05-19*