This book (and the class) were my first exposure to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics and it's served me very well. Background up to that point was high school mechanics and college freshman mechanics and E&M. I think the book alone would be a more challenging first introduction to Lagrangians and Hamiltonians, but it does give a very good "deep" understanding of the material, mostly because you can play around with functions, equations, and systems without having to grind through pages of algebra since the computer does it.
Outside of a class, it might be best approached with a few friends working through it together or in conjunction with one of the more traditional mechanics texts. Definitely worth the read at some point!
