I know most of a standard US undergrad math degree - multi-variable calculus, real and complex analysis, point-set topology, basic abstract algebra, etc. etc. I know very little about physics beyond F=ma, but I want to learn the basics.
I have found any "introductory" book I look at bothers me for a few reasons:
It is written in typical non-serious "American college freshman textbook" style - lots of colorful, distracting sidebars and boxes, links to online exercises, pop science digressions, motivational speeches about how cool it is to be learning physics, etc. Many dozens of extremely easy exercises after every section, when I would have gotten the point after two or three and wanted something more deep/challenging.
It assumes the reader is learning basic mathematics at the same time as physics, so it spends way more time than I need explaining concepts like vectors, derivatives, integrals, linear transformations, etc.
On the other hand, any more advanced book I looked at assumes prior physics knowledge.
Does anyone have any recommendations that do not suffer from these flaws?
(For the purposes of this question, let's define "basic physics" as things that were discovered before the year 1900).
