If you are going to analyse a mechanism then i think this book should be your first resort. This book has all the concepts needed to analyse a given mechansim. Although kinematic analysis is only considered here, the authors another book on 'Dynamic analysis' should complement this. Velocity and acceleration diagrams are given a clear treatment. Cam design is treated with good examples. Another great book is 'Theory of machines' By Thomas Bevan. All the three books together provide a complete introduction to mechanism/machine analysis and should be in the shelf of every mechanical engineer. I believe that synthesizing a mechanism mainly needs a good level of ingenuity although an experience in mechanism analysis will be of some help. For synthesizing, i have come across the seven volume book 'Mechanisms in Modern Engineering Design' Ivan Artobolevsky, Mir Publishers.