The Landau chapter (2nd on the "Mechanics book) demonstrating how conservation laws derive from symmetries (eg Energy conservation due to homogeneity of time) was really mind-blowing for me when I was starting out in college. I don't understand why I haven't seen this idea presented in other textbooks and I can't recommend it enough for anyone with an interest in physics or science.
It's also in the Feynman lectures (proved only for quantum mechanics) and Feynman's popularization The Character of Physical Law (proof sketch for classical mechanics). (I suppose the latter is also in the online videos for the lectures that book was made from -- IIRC the Messenger lectures. http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/)
Comments
The Landau chapter (2nd on the "Mechanics book) demonstrating how conservation laws derive from symmetries (eg Energy conservation due to homogeneity of time) was really mind-blowing for me when I was starting out in college. I don't understand why I haven't seen this idea presented in other textbooks and I can't recommend it enough for anyone with an interest in physics or science.
Online: http://archive.org/stream/Mechanics_541/LandauLifshitz-Mecha...
It's also in the Feynman lectures (proved only for quantum mechanics) and Feynman's popularization The Character of Physical Law (proof sketch for classical mechanics). (I suppose the latter is also in the online videos for the lectures that book was made from -- IIRC the Messenger lectures. http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/)