having some chapter or two dedicated to trajectory optimization. Although it's not an easy reading by any means, it greatly serves its purpose as the title states; an adequate optimal control introductory. You really want a good grasp of optimal control's fundamentals before you go into trajectory/path optimization so it's advised you start from the very beginning.
However in case you want an alternative to the book and wonder what trajectory optimization is about here's the relevant chapter of MIT's Underactuated Robotics course
You're looking into Control Theory and specifically the field of Optimal Control.
If you have some college Math {1,2}XX literacy, I remember
https://www.amazon.com/Optimal-Control-Theory-Introduction-E...having some chapter or two dedicated to trajectory optimization. Although it's not an easy reading by any means, it greatly serves its purpose as the title states; an adequate optimal control introductory. You really want a good grasp of optimal control's fundamentals before you go into trajectory/path optimization so it's advised you start from the very beginning.
However in case you want an alternative to the book and wonder what trajectory optimization is about here's the relevant chapter of MIT's Underactuated Robotics course
https://underactuated.mit.edu/trajopt.html
whose parts are also good alternatives to the Kirk book.