5 comments about Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems.

1. it starts off well enough, but the chaos chapter is terrible. I did use multiple sources while i was taking an analytic mechanics course. The best part of the book is the well assorted bunch of problems.



2. I really like this book a lot. I never went to class for both quarters of my upper-division undergraduate mechanics class, and instead read Thornton and Marion religiously. I've heard friends express their dislike for it, but I think it is very clear and provides excellent perspective and insight. It is very mathematically rigorous, which I appreciate but others may not. The proofs given are typically very readable, although I often skipped over the sort of "obvious" things that the book shows in exquisite detail. Lots of great sections and topics, much interesting material covered, in addition to the basics. Highly recommended.



3. I use this text in my spring sophomore-level mechanics class. There are no perfect texts for this level, but this is the best one out there. The book does assume that you either have a solid base of mathematics or are willing to learn during the course. That's typical in a physics class; you learn mathematics while learning physics, and so its a good introduction to the style of more advanced physics classes. While the chapter on nonlinearity doesn't fit well with the other chapters, and I wish Lagrangian's were moved later in the text, its still a better choice then most other texts for most students. Less mathematically prepared students could use Taylor's text, for example, and more mathematically prepared students should use Goldstein and landau, but this book aims at the middle of lower division physics majors.



4. Pros: Great reference text. The examples are clear and there are generally a lot of them. The notation is generally very readable.
   
   
   Cons: The price. As with almost any physics text, this one is most easily understood if you can compare it to another book of the same level (might I recommend Taylor?) However, the price of this book makes that impractical at best.
   
   This book is a good text. It is one of the first books that physics students encounter after their introductory courses which makes for a very challenging semester. I think that may be why it has recieved so many poor reviews. . .



5. I used this book as a physics undergrad in the mid '90s. Like so many others on this site, my copy of M&T split in half before the semester was even half over. I'd sure love my $80 back plus interest...
   
   I thought some of the later chapters were quite good -- particularly the one on Lagrangian dynamics -- but the first few chapters didn't strike me as particularly well written. More than a decade later, I can still recall a problem in Chapter 2 that wasn't even remotely covered anywhere in the chapter itself. It somehow managed to survive to the 4th edition, and I'd be willing to bet it's in the 5th as well.
   
   There were lots of things I liked about Marion and Thornton, but generally speaking, if students are expected to plunk down this kind of money for texts on fairly venerable topics, the content should be QA-tested, and the book itself should be reasonably well-constructed.

5 comments about Understanding Thermodynamics.

1. This book is an excellent conceptual introduction to thermodynamics. It helps you to get the "big picture" without getting into mathematical details. The first few chapters are suitable for high-school students that are interested in the fundamental concepts and laws of thermodynamics.



2. Van Ness cures the common problem of vapid thermodynamics texts by clearly explaining the basics and then stopping.
   
   His little book is an easy read, and firmly roots the student in the reality of what thermodynamic laws and equations actually mean. Most importantly, van Ness repeatedly makes clear that thermodynamics is about imaginary processes that will never occur in real machines.
   
   This should be the first week's read of every course in thermo.



3. First, skip over the silly introductory analogy of a little kid playing with marbles or whatever. But then it gets good. Aside from introducing an equation (p.28) including the variable S without even defining, let alone explaining, it, the 1st and 2nd law are explained very lucidly and with much care (I am a graduate electrical engineer with a full-semester thermodynamics course under my belt who's forgotten most of the subject). Entropy is very well dealt with. The last part of the book deals with thermodynamics vs statistical mechanics & there it gets pretty rough. I didn't try to assimilate too much of that part, not being as intetersted, but it's rigorous and doubtlessly also a fine exposition.
   
   This book is certainly worth the small price and a chunk of your time.



4. Who knew that thermodynamics could actually be entertaining? This book is a joy to read regardless of your technical background or interests. It isn't meant to be a text, or even a demonstration of the subject's importance, but, rather, an invocation of the sheer wonder that can lie in the most mundane things if only you can look at them from the viewpoint that thermodynamics offers.



5. This thin book is a must-have for anyone who wants to understand thermodynamics. A better title for this book may be `Thermodynamics Companion'. This it not a stand alone text, but a supplement to a text book or more advanced reference. This author explains in detail (and without a lot of mathematical mumbo-jumbo) the basics of thermodynamics. It is geared toward the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student in engineering or physics who wants to understand thermo. The mathematics is simple (anyone with a little knowledge of calculus can handle it), so the reader won't get bogged down in the equations. If you really want to get a handle on what thermo means (beyond just manipulating equations), this would be a great place to start. This book contains the best discussion of entropy that I've ever found. The notion of entropy is a difficult one for many new to thermo. It is easy to learn how to manipulate the equations, another thing to really understand what they mean. The latter is the author's goal in this book, and he has succeeded. At less than $8, this is a no-brainer.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer.

1. Book came quickly, exactly as described, better than expected. Look forward to the next purchases.



2. A good overall review of heat transfer. Helpfull in dusting off the cobwebs when looking at heat transfer after many years.



3. This textbook is one of the best I've ever used. Incropera and DeWitt do a great job of explaining convection, conduction, and radiation. I have heard that the mass transfer portion of the book is lacking however, I am an ME major so its not an issue. The covering of conduction is especially good, it goes into great detail math wise although its well presented so you don't have to be a mathematical wizard to follow along. The book goes into a little bit of heat exchanger design, not very much but its a good introduction. If your instructor requires this book for your heat transfer class consider yourself very fortunate.



4. Este libro lo conocí al cursar la licenciatura en FIMEE, ahora que lo compré opté por la 5a Ed que esta mejorado. Es muy util para asimilar los conceptos y entender los fenómenos. Me gusta mucho por que creo que está muy completo y se explica muy bien. Es un libro que todos los Ing. Mecánicos deben tener. Los ejercicios son muy variados y de amplias aplicaciones, ello permite ver la amplitud de estudio de esta área de la ing. Vale la pena comprarlo (les sugiero la versión en ingles).
   GUZZZ



5. This book is very easy to use. all the chapters are well written and very easy to follow. If you want a book that covers heat transfer that is great for a class or great for reference then this is it.

5 comments about The Dock Manual: Designing/Building/Maintaining.

1. I gave up trying to find any useful information on dock building and then happened across this book not long ago. Max Burns has written a very comprehensive reference book that covers almost any imaginable dock/shore situation including the one I was looking for . If you're thinking of building your own, add this book to your library!



2. Yes, this book provides a well-illustrated overview of approaches to dock building and choices of materials. But it doesn't go far enough if you have a significant tidal range or if the wind blows. What's missing is any introduction to engineering. How to make sure the ramp doesn't fall off your float when the tide goes out. How to figure the static forces on your dock caused by 4 knot currents. How to estimate the wave heights and dynamic forces in 80 knot winds. And how to design a dock that will survive this abuse. You might want to involve a professional engineer in these situations, but that can be true of pretty much anything to do with docks. A book with this title should at least introduce you to these subjects and provide references for the gory details. Like some others, the author believes books like this should be peppered with jokes. Personally I find this annoying, but I must admit his jokes are above average. So if you want a funny introduction to building docks in gentle places, this book is for you.



3. Very thorough. Just the information I needed to determine what type of dock to build on my lakefront property.



4. I've built decks and docks in the past and I find this text to be of immense value as I prepare to build a new system of decks and docks at a new location. I'd suggest this this one to anyone who was about to build near or on the water.



5. As a handyman I like to bulid my own things. This book gives you a lot of insight. It shows an easier way of doing things by using things you would not have thought of. It is an excellent book with a lot of ideals.

2 comments about Business: A Changing World.

1. I bought this brand new and it would be a good book if it wasn't poorly manufactured. In the book it skips chapters 4 and half of chapter 5 and makes up for the lost chapters by repeating chapter 3 twice. Sure it's good for getting by in class but it'd be nice to know what chapter 4 and the first half of 5 is all about.



2. The language is very smooth and easy to read. The illustrations make sense and are relevant.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics.

1. Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics gives an in-depth explanation of each concept covered. The problems following each chapter are congruent with what was taught. The book also comes with an electronic resource which allows the user to view movies and end of chapter exercise answers. All in all, this book and the included materials make learning the subject fun and easy to do.



2. This is how a textbook should be written. All topics are introduced with theory and background information to begin with the presentation of the material. After the theory and equations are run through, there are numerous *solved examples* to back up the theory. Examples of different types and with different approaches are all covered.
   
   The end of chapter problems are well set up to really exercise your thinking ability and they really strengthen your comprehension of the material (since the challenging problems force you to go back into the chapter and expand on what you've already learned).
   
   Interesting examples are all geared toward designing systems and the analysis of the performance of those systems.
   
   In disagreement with one reviewer, the text is not wordy or lofty at all. All explanations are concise and to the point with no extra beating around the bush.
   
   Overall the textbook is one of the best I've come across.



3. The book came in good condition and it was quickly delivered. Impressive. I bought two books from them, and the books come with a CD case but no CD. Not really a problem because I don't use it, but just for reference if you're dying to get your hands on the CD and not just the great material in the books.



4. The book is pretty well written for an engineering book. They keep incorrectly referring to centripetal force as centrifugal force which is the only real fault I have seen, and we have only found one incorrect answer in the back so far. The supplemental materials are very helpful and insightful like the website with the videos and examples. As with most books with a code they put the cd holder in the front with just a code in it which wont come out cleanly so it wont interfere with the way the pages lay which is quite annoying. Overall I think it is very useful for an introductory fluids book.



5. In my search for books on engineering and physics, I must say this book is great for those of us garage-gadgeteers that need a little mathematical direction for design. The book is absolutely loaded with picture illustrations that depict the physics/fluid mechanics formulas in discussion. It's hard for someone to grasp concepts when all you have to look at is a bunch of numbers, graphs or symbols. The authors did a sweet job of making a complicated subject simple enough to get the non-geniuses interested and engaged in learning something very important. Not to say that this book is too basic for college use- quite the contraire, even seasoned engineers will find this book insightful, detailed and well-rounded.

5 comments about Four Laws That Drive the Universe.

1. This book is clearly written, presenting the zeroth law, first law, second law and third law of thermodynamics taking the mystery out of the usual presentations of this subject.
   Professor Atkins presents the thermodynamic laws starting with comparisons with mechanical systems that most people would understand and builds upon that for an easily understood treatise on the subject matter.



2. This book is unevenly written. Much of it would be of value to the college-educated reader, much of it would not.
   
   I have a doctorate in physical chemistry (Atkins' field) and could work through it fairly easily. I would not recommend it to my daughter (doctorate in biochemistry) and I am not sure about recommending it to my son (doctorate in solid state physics).
   
   The discussion of temperatures below the absolute zero appears to have been put in just to be cute.



3. This presentation of an intrinsically interesting topic is a logically correct derivation - which seems very important to the author - but to what purpose? To understand it the reader has to be comfortable with subtle concepts of physics, and to enjoy it the reader has to appreciate a development presented as if for a mathematical proof, with apologies if any items are mentioned out of order. But for someone with that level of scientific interest and background, it doesn't offer any insights or new ways of looking at the topics. For instance, the author distinguishes between energy and enthalpy at an early stage, and requires the reader to know or very quickly learn the concept of work as force times distance. But then there's no reward for mastering the distinction and the reader is left to wonder why it's important. I'm a physicist and I greatly enjoy well written popular or semi-popular science books. This wasn't one of them.



4. To be fair, Atkins sets himself a difficult task: make thermodynamics palatable, and even tasty, to a general audience. I probably represent his target audience: I am college educated, and I worked for a couple of years as a biochemistry technician. I keep up with science topics through Scientific American and several web sites. And I enjoy the Science Channel whenever the cosmology shows are on. But I don't possess deep physics knowledge, save for dimly remembered college physics and chemistry courses.
   
   Does Atkins succeed? Mostly yes, but I must offer some caveats. This text does presume some relevant background at the college level. And, although Atkins' prose is readable, he occasionally misses a tone and examples that might better hold the reader's interest. Still, on balance, the presentation works, and at least stays focused on preparing the main ingredients.
   
   Where does Atkins get soggy? He only rarely capitalizes on the wow factor. He says that thermodynamics is relevant to each and every one of us in our lives. He's right. But his examples are a bit lifeless and the allusions to "regular life" are few. When he does bring levity and relevance, it resonates rather well. But the reader is left to bring his or her own imagination to the text and create most such insights for oneself. As I am also an artist, technical writer, and recently a business analyst, I found many "ah ha!" moments to ponder. But these were mostly of my own making, with only the barest guidance from the author.
   
   Finally, what's missing? Atkins might have alluded more thoroughly to the world of information theory. He only hints about this fascinating subject. Atkins might have explored the micro-states of matter with more gusto. Also barely mentioned was the notion of efficiency, although at a micro level this has great meaning for those working in nanotechnology. And there was no indication of how such principles must also apply to the living world, the systems we call organisms. For my money, some appetizers and desserts would have engendered more enthusiasm from this reader.
   
   Nevertheless, I found the book helpful, readable, and generally enjoyable. And that is no small thing for such a subject. If I don't grant it five stars, it's not because of what is there, but rather what is not.



5. Compact and concise review of 4 laws of thermodynamics. Book explains the laws easily, using insightful examples, so almost anyone could read it.

2 comments about Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics.

1. This is a fairly good text; however the authors have found it necessary to include silly "Bio-Connections" and "Environment" editorals at 5 to 10 page intervals. These are nothing more than warm-fuzzies for bio-engineers who may be taking a thermo-class, and PC "global warming" editorials that have little technical benefit to teaching the core material. It became particularly infuriating when you see a 3/4 page silly "bio-connections" editorial on fluorocarbon global warming and they in the same section neglect having an explanatory figure on the P-v vapor dome. Or they devote 3/4 page on a "bio-connections" essay on storing bananas in zip-lock bags (trying to connect bio-chem with thermodynamics), and give short shrift to the Kelvin-Plank statement (and only supply a very skimpy 2"x2" figure for the explaining Kelvin-Plank).
   
   The editorial board and tag-along sub-authors damaged this text. Stick with engineering and the fundamentals - and for crying out loud if you want to add "bio", "nano-nano" and carbon credits DON'T do it at the expense of Kelvin and Clausius.
   
   I like the text's general concise-ness, and the problem sets and example problems are pretty good. The Cengel text gives better explanations, but is more wordy.



2. This is a very good text book, it is well written and keeps it short and sweet. It gets to the point. One great feature is that it boxes in derivations that are not nessacary to understand, this way you don't get bogged down in a lot of text. There are tons of examples in the book and no mistakes that I could find. You really can read and understand everything from the text, you don't really need a teacher, which is saying alot, because most books are impossible to read and figure out what's going on. I agree the bio part is worthless, but Moran is obviously into that stuff because he always mentioned it in class. It's really not a bad thing...just skip it, who cares if it's in there. Overall if you want a good thermo book, whether it's self taught or in a class, it's a good choice.

5 comments about 3,000 Solved Problems in Physics (Schaum's Solved Problems) (Schaum's Solved Problems Series).

1. Just like it was 30 years ago. Plenty of solved problems to self learn Physics.



2. I never bought this book, because every time I looked at it on the shelf I quickly flipped through it, and every time decided it was full of too-simple problems, essentially just the plug & chug variety, not really much to be gained by a physics student.
   
   But my dad had bought it to study for some engineering problems he was working on, and he didn't need it, so I grabbed it, and tucked it away for a few months.
   
   Then I gave myself the goal of working through all 3000 problems, about 25 each night. I had hoped it would help me get better at doing these kind of problems in my head and improve my accuracy, which desperately needed improving.
   
   Here's the deal with this book ... YES it does start with problems so simple that a high-schooler can do them, and then it drills those concepts over and over, but while that's happening, Halpern gradually increases the difficulty of the problems. For all of those people that insult this book as not challenging, I'll wager they would have a hard time with many of the problems by chapter end, at which point Halpern has developed an increasingly complex problem set. And amazingly, after working all the exercises, the problem-solver can handle many or most of them.
   
   It's like that old movie Karate Kid, where the Ralph Machio character gets mad at his teacher for making him paint the fence all day, and then his teacher shows him that all his work has actually done something.
   
   Halpern tells you this at the beginning of the book, that the his method will make you a "master of the art -- and should do so if used properly." The proper way of course, it to struggle with the problems that are a little harder before you are tempted to peek at the answer. (I use a folded paper to cover the answer while I look at the problem.)
   
   If you are preparing or trying to learn all of physics, then you should skip around from chapter to chapter, rather than trying to work through a chapter at a time. This helps you synthesize a variety of information better.
   
   There are a few typos and a few errors, but they are pretty easy to catch. And the redundancy of the problems makes errors less critical anyway.
   
   (Halpern was a professor at my school for my MA in physics, City University of New York, although I never met him. I would like to meet him someday for helping me to become a master, although I still have a long way to go.)



3. I bought this book to help my daughter with her physics class. I just wanted to help her practice with a few of the easier problems given that she is still in high school. Surprisingly, I found the book better in comparison to the problems given in her actual textbook. Obviously, one cannot learn physics from scratch by doing these problems alone. Some initial instruction is required. However, once the basic concepts of physics are learned, this in turn becomes an excellent practice guide in order to master the topics covered. No matter what your level of acheivement is, this book will help you get to the next level. I wish I had found this book a lot sooner.



4. This book has plenty of practice problems and helped me to bring my grade up, but the problems seem kind of dry compared to textbook problems. Most of the problems have to do with the same situation (ex. boom, something going in a circle, inclined plane, etc.). Problems in texbooks are often more varied in style and force you think a bit more. If the problems are of a greater variety, this will definitely be 5 stars. I still recommend this for anyone who is hoping to get better grades in physics. You'll get a lot better by doing all those practice problems.



5. I'm a retired physicist and bought this book so I could pick out good problems for my daughter to solve as an adjunct to her high school textbook. It often happens that if you "get" a concept one or two problems is enough practice but when you're having trouble its nice to have many, many problems (and see the solutions) on a particular topic to work on until the concept "clicks". This book is perfect in that regard. I was also pleased that many of the problems go well beyond plug and pray. Last but not least, the solutions are CORRECT (I've yet to encounter an error).
   
   The one criticism I would make is there is a tendency to have several sequential problems depend on the prior problem. Thus, if problem 8.47 looks interesting you might find that you have to first solve 8.45 and 8.46 before attempting it. Minor point....
   
   I also bought Schaum's 3000 Calculus problems and found it to be just as good.
   3,000 Solved Problems in Calculus

5 comments about Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means.

1. Excellent read. I'm a systems engineer by trade and although the book is by no means technical, it really drove the "connectedness" topic home for me as the author showed how objects naturally connect and grow in both real and abstract terms. If this sounds interesting- you will enjoy it too.



2. Before reading this book, I didn't know that Networks theories are with us since serveral decades. I'm almost finishing it, but I couldn't wait to write something about the book; specially to recommend you to buy it!
   Barabasi work is really great. His redaction skills are as good that people without mathematics or science knowledge can understand and deeply learn Networks theory.



3. This is the first book I've ever read tackling this subject. I've had some science, but physics wasn't my strong suit. This was a great intro, and it made me want to dig deeper.



4. Reminds of "The World is Flat". It covers lots of ground really quickly. It was an interesting subject, something I've speculated a lot on my own and it was reinforcing to have a professional discuss lots of patterns (biology, physics, society, information networks) in a short-form context. It inspired me to write some graphics code based on the diagrams in the book and for that it was worth reading.



5. This well-written, easy book is a good way to start learning about network theory. It discusses the history, some basics, and the broad application (or presence?) of networks in the world around us.
   However, it skims only the surface of what the research is all about, and leaves one thirsty for more, making it a good introduction to further studying (in my case, neural networks).
   
   The writing style is close to story-telling at times, and this got a bit on my nerves. Apart from that I really cannot say anything bad about this book, I am glad I purchased it.