3 comments about Mechanical & Electrical Systems in Buildings (4th Edition).

1. If ur stepping into the building services industry, this book will be a comprehensive packaged info for your reading pleasure. Includes lotsa real-life diagrams, plan routings, concepts and explanation. It's 4am over here in Singapore and I've just finished reading one of the topics, just imagine how attractive the contents this book has! However, the only and regretable drawback is: the units are empirical which make it very difficult for me for in my country, we use SI metric units.



2. Very good book. Helps you understand the systems inside (and outside) of buildings in use everyday that most folks don't have a clue about. If you are interested in understanding how your building equipment functions this is a good book for you. Down to earth and well written. Recommend to property management personnel.



3. This book is terrible. If you are a certified HVAC specialist, it is for you. However, if you are new to this then it is a total waste of money. Explanation is bad, example are nowhere relate to the section discussed. And worst of all, there is no answer keys. You will not have a clue if you are correct or not. Every chapter there are as least half of the review question are calculations, yet in each chapter there will be probably one page showing how calculation is done. Example one of the simplest thing:
   COP = Cooling Effect / Power Input. If you look up the index, you cannot find the word "cooling effect", find out whichever chapter they discuss, or show you how to calculate the "cooling effect".
   You are in luck if you do not have class that uses this book. You have bad luck if you have a "good" teacher that using this book. You are doom if you have a "bad" teacher who using this book, might as well drop it. Waste of time and money.

No comments about The West in the World, Volume II: From 1600.

5 comments about Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach (Aiaa Education Series).

1. 
   This is an interesting and enlightening book (or rather tome) on aircraft design by a very knowledgeable author who knows what to say and how to say it. This is among the best books on the market dealing with aircraft design and is well written in a clear and easy to understand and follow format for those studying aeronautical engineering and design. It is also an excellent reference guide for aircraft design professionals.
   
   This is a comprehensive book covering all the major topics in aircraft design including mission definition, initial sizing, structural and aerodynamics design, weight estimation, configuration layout, performance analysis and estimates. The author reinforces his teaching with tips, illustrations, explanations and equations and provide essential data for aircraft design.
   
   Overally, an excellent book that is well worth investing in.



2. There are several stages to aircraft design. This book covers the first stage, conceptual design, which aims to find the best possible configuration for the aircraft prior to designing the aircraft in detail.
   
   Arriving at this final design involves several layers of complexity. Initially the process involves creating several simple designs and performing a brief evaluation of their performance. This allows the designer to select the best design and develop the design to the point where it can be `fixed' and sent to the specialists who will design the individual parts for manufacture.
   
   The conceptual designer needs to be a jack of all trades, he needs to understand all of the issues, but he doesn't need to be an expert in any of them. For this reason this book is makes it a great reference for people like me with a general interest. It gives an excelent overview of aircraft design, but doesn't go into fine detail.



3. Great Great Great Great Book !!
   An essential book. Every people who work in aeronautic and space industry HAVE to read this book. Very easy to understand. Should be the first book on airplane design that you read.



4. For any aspiring Aeronautical Engineer, this book provides indepth analysis and insights into design of Aeronautical Systems. Several design concepts have been demonstrated with real examples. A must read.



5. The Raymer's book is a great title for airplane preliminary sizing.
   The book is very useful with many tips about the subject.
   The Torenbeek's book and Roskam's books is also recommended.

No comments about Engineering Design.

5 comments about Advanced Mechanics of Materials.

1. I don't subscribe to the point of view of those people who don't like this book. The book is clear, coincise, well written. I used in one of my Master's classes, and I loved it. It covers: stress theory, elasticity, fatigue analysis, basics of FE method, basic crack theory. Again, as I use to write in all my reviews: for each one of the chapters, one may find dozens of books. For the beginner and the practicioner this book is OK.
   
   It has been say: "Computers make a good engineer a better one, a bad engineer a dangerous man". IF you don't know the THEORY, you will FAIL in the practice.
   
   Do you really think one needs to perform a FEM analysis in order to know that as the radius of a round approaches zero, the stress at a point reaches the infinity?!?
   
   Here you will find the theory needed to SAFELY perform structural analysis (with or without computers).
   
   I think this book is a good one, and should stand in every engineer's bookshelf



2. This is quite possibly the worst textbook ever, along with Vibrations by Balachandran. It seems these people never heard about finite element analysis. The examples are confusing and the treatment of the different subjects is usually quite poor.



3. I've used this book both as a graduate student and a professor in civil/mechanical engineering. This book fills an important gap in advanced mechanics of materials/applied elasticity books (e.g. Ugural & Fenster, Cook & Young, Barber). Why? It contains a complete chapter on static failure theories including both pressure-independent (von Mises, Tresca) and pressure-dependent (Coulomb and Drucker-Prager) approaches. It also includes a full chapter on fracture mechanics, traditional fatigue, stress concentration factors, and creep. This book is a great launching point for courses involving plates & shells, elastic stability, and plasticity. However, this is not an elasticity text. Neither is this book a text on finite element analysis, although the publisher has an online chapter on FEA available. The reading level is challenging. Period. For an easier read, try Barber's "Intermediate Mechanics of Materials" or Cook and Young's "Advanced Mechanics of Materials." The bottom line is that this classic book, based on the 1931 text of Fred Seely of the Univ. of Illinois, is very useful, but it's not for the faint-hearted.



4. I used Cook & Young (an adequate textbook) for my MS class on advanced strength (in '85) but soon after I started working I bought a copy of this one because it is better as a reference for professional stress analysts. This book explains what's going on behind the screen of all those FEA programs some reviewers seem to love so much. Well guys, how do you know what the answer means if you haven't a clue how the answer was developed, or what the question meant. Boresi/Sidebottom offers an excellent outline of solid mechanics from the strength of materials perspetive, as opposed to continuum mechanics or elastcity. The sections of theories of failure are very good.



5. I realy like this book as a reference guide. I design powertrain parts for medium and light duty trucks and passcars. I typically use the formulas in this book to evaluate new designs and patent ideas before a great deal time and money is put into the program just to find out that it wont work. It is a great resorce for the first look at structural integerity and fatiuge life before investing in FEA.

No comments about Aircraft Structures for Engineering Students, Fourth Edition (Elsevier Aerospace Engineering).

4 comments about Airport Planning & Management.

1. Airport Planning & Management is an excellent reference for any student of airport management or aviation.

   The book details just about every facet of how an airport is run. From airport site selection to runway design and everything in between, Airport Planning & Management just about covers it all.

   The chapters are all well written and extremely well organized. Any aviation enthusiast who is interested in how airports are run will find this a valuable reference.




2. Like many young men, and I daresay women, I was drawn to airport management after exposure to Burt Lamcaster's sterling portrayal of a harried airport manager in the Ross Hunter classic AIRPORT. Lancaster showed us that a man could handle a million problems all at once, if he had the right combination of grit and gray cells. It wasn't only the glamor, it was the idea of helping people get through their day--even when the people in question were six or seven miles up in the air--that made me consider airport management as a major at school.
   
   Other factors prevented me from achieving my goal, but I continue to pick up textbooks and manuals to keep abreast of the way airports have changed over the last 35 years. From a technical point of view, one of the best resources for the lay manager is the Alexander Wells book AIRPORT PLANNING & MANAGEMENT (AP & MANAGEMENT) co-authored with Seth Young, both of them prominent in the field--and the airfield--today. This book brings you thoroughly up to date on the way the skies (and the terminals) have changed since the day of infamy, 9/11. Their information is laid out with dispatch, not a wasted word between them. In addition, they know their stuff, that's for sure. Over five hundred pages and I could detect only a few minor inaccuracies.
   
   If you were assigned to develop your own airport in some understaffed part of the world, this would be the volume you would bring with you. If you were limited to bringing one textbook with you. Of course, the old joke among airport planning students is, what CD would you bring? Why, Briano Eno's MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS of course.



3. A very good book,most 'freindly' and understandabale, offers wide spectrum of airport's infrastructure as well as its economic aspects. Recommanded forb thse intersted in aaition in general and airport planning in particular.
   Hiilel Avihai



4. As an aviation professor, I wanted a book that offered a comprehensive but relatively basic overview to the many aspects of airport management. Airport Planning & Management is an easy read and its format makes it easy to refer back to areas of the book for review. It has a good balance of charts, diagrams, and graphics. It is a great book for students that want a well-rounded understanding of airports and their operations. It is also a great book for anyone who just want to know how airports work!

2 comments about Theory of Machines and Mechanisms.

1. This was my textbook in my undergrad and which I cherish having around me. Gives a comprehensive treatment of kinematics uptill the level demanded for a practising mechanical engineer.



2. When it came to the other sections of the book, it seemed to lack much information. a prime example is in the gears section. if you did not read the book in chronological order, you would not understand later chapters. example if you were interested in worm gears, and you didn't read the spur gears section you would be completely lost. For this reason i would say it does not make a good book for reference as it may not be clear if you will need to do some hunting later.
   
   Beyond the kinematics i would recommend RL Norton's book for machine designing.

5 comments about Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain.

1. This Book contains every fromula that i would ever need during my Mechanical Engineering Course.
   It is quite easy to use, and the print is clear the index is user friendly



2. Very helpful book in engineering job, but unfortunately I've found some mistake (the reason for 4 stars).
   
   In general you can find lot of formulas in this book. This book is also very well known and that's the reason for recommending it. You can just refer to Roark's formulas and everybody knows what's that.



3. During my years as Structural Calculyst this book was always on my right side on my desk, and when I needed it, it was ready to help me find my way. One really very good Engineer has never found all formulas in his head, instead he should be able of finding them out on good references and really know how to use
   them all. This is the best reference book you are going to find when formulas is your subject, just buy it!
   The only book I know better than this one is written in German and few people are able to read in German, so!



4. While this volume is about 30% larger than my 5th edition, it has some glaring errors. When you get pointed to a table, you will not find tables with that number. The tables are titled but not numbered according to the referring item. Major PITB trying to figure out if the table that I found was the correct one.



5. I like having a Roark's around. It is handy for stress and strain problems.

5 comments about Practice Problems for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam: A Companion to the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual, 12th Edition.

1. I recommend this book if you are studying for the PE exam. The problems are numerous and relevant. The solutions are easy to follow.
   
   You do NOT need to have Lindeburg's study guide to use the Practice Problems. He does refer to the appendices in his study guide (steam tables, etc) by page number, BUT if you have the reference elsewhere (which you should), you can do all the problems in the book.



2. The practice problems are all written in SI and English units yet there will only be in English units on the Mechanical PE exam. All problems have both units, however if you are interested in becoming proficient with conversions this may actually distract you. This could be confusing to someone studying and trying to improve the ability to work in different systems.
   
   Be particularly aware of the sample exam. The following quote is an excerpt from a forum on the exam which I just read. I am dissapointed to read that the Sample exam is not reflective of the actual PE exam. I too just bought this for the purpose of taking a timed practice exam but now will send it back and find a more appropriate practice exam.
   
   "I was going to take the PPI ME sample exam under timed conditions but thank goodness I flipped through it first. As soon as I saw the SI units I knew it wouldn't be representative of the NCEES exam, at least in that regard. I saw it as being pointless working problems in the SI system since they won't be on the real exam and all my studying has been in the English system."



3. Book was fine condition but didn't get to do any of the practice problems before my exam, which I passed thanks to the reference book.



4. I recommend this manual only as a means for working additional problems once you've exhausted your textbook sample problems. I just took the ME PE exam yesterday and the problems on the actual exam should take no longer than 5 minutes to work, IF you know what tools (equations, etc) to use. The sample problems in this book took me, on average, about 35 minutes each to work. 90% of them are far more difficult than anything you'll see on the actual exam.
   
   I think time would be much better spent simply working the "easy" problems out of your old textbooks.



5. I worked through several of these problems before the exam. Most of the problems are harder than the problems on the exam, but that is a good thing.
   
   This, and the on-line practice test from NCEES are all I used to study and I feel I was well prepared. The PPI problems help you get the knowledge of the material; while the NCEES problems give you a feel for timing, and what the exam problems are like.
   
   The only thing that would make this more helpful for studying would be if it had difficulty or time ratings for each question. There were some areas of study I did not want to spend a lot of time on.
   
   Don't take lots of books to the exam. All I used was the MERM (Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual) that accompanies this. It had what I needed to solve every problem except one.