5 comments about Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics.

1. Difficult to find information in the text, though it does have alot of useful stuff. The tables at the back are great.



2. This text is just so clear, well written, and organized that words are hard to find. Work patiently through the first six chapters, and the rest is a true pleasure. The perfect structure of the examples and of the text itself provides the perfect tool both for learning thermodynamics and for getting B's and A's.
   All engineering textbook writers should take notice of this book. (By the way, Cengel, although decent, is an average text compared to this one.)



3. Great book, my professor for this class lacked a Ph.D and the ability to teach, so I was on my own for the most part. I nearly pulled an A in the course. On a technical note, they aren't so clear on/or make a few minor errors, be careful with the P-h diagrams.



4. I'm currently using this book for my undergraduate thermo course and this is my first class (and first book) on thermodynamics. That said, I must I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I'll agree that there's plenty of examples which are helpful and there's plenty of rigor in explaining many concepts.
   
   On the other hand, I will also say that I was completely lost several times when reading the book. I definitely agree with the other review that complained about this book's wordiness. In an introductory text such as this, I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't string together long, run-on sentences with nothing but definition terms (where you have to lookup virtually each word in the sentence from other chapters). I've also noticed that many intro texts *fail to succinctly and clearly explain completely new terms and concepts in easy-to-understand words and real-world examples*, and this is no exception!
   
   Central summary pages including main formulas (and page numbers for alternative forms of the main formulas) would be helpful for students instead of constantly flipping through the chapters looking for something specific formula.
   
   Also, the back of the book solutions severely lack any sort of real form (most books give either all odd or even solutions) and the problems themselves often require complex assumptions that first-year thermo students such as myself aren't going to think of right off-the-bat. Starting point hints would be a BIG help.
   
   All that said, I'd say that while this is a pretty good, detailed book, good luck if you're an engineering undergrad taking a thermo class for the first time with this book. You'll probably benefit from lectures more than from this book.



5. A good text for undergrad study of thermodynamics. Alot of tables for common binary fluids. Clear and easy to understand. Emphasizes cycle analysis.

5 comments about Engineering Vibration (3rd Edition).

1. I am currently teaching the introductory course in Mechanical Vibrations at California State University, Fullerton, and chose Dr. Inman's book after evaluating several different texts. The material is well organized, there are numerous practical examples, and the book is easy to read. The book contains substantial material on nonlinear vibrations, and numerical solutions, items that are of immense practical importance. Methods of solution are covered in three different software packages, MathCAD, MATLAB and Mathematica, which, when combined with the quantity of homework problems, allows the Instructor to tailor the class to his or her own preferences.

   Additionally, I am also a practicing engineer, currently employed by a manufacturer of vibration exciters, and have found the material on vibration testing to be accurate and informative. This makes the book valuable as a reference, as well as a textbook.




2. I think that it is a great textbook, which gives students a good balance between the theory and practice, with the nice emphasis of computer capabilities in the area of vibration. I like it very much and I am sure that many students in this country would share my opinion.



3. This book is terrible! It is wrought with errors and is not a wise pick for a textbook. I've checked out the 7 pages of errata that are related to this book and still find major errors that they have overlooked. This book looks like some hack of a professor threw together some half-@$$ed notes.



4. This text is very colored by the authors way of thinking. If you think like the author it may be good for you. If not, then it is very difficult to understand. Important information needed to understand the subject is missing from the book. Nothing is tied together and each new section is a new problem to deal with. Rao's book is much better; any other book would probably be much better.



5. This book is a good book for those who are interested in a beginning study or a reference for basic formulation. It has fantastic didactic and good exercises. So it's very good for undergraduate students. Following it's references may lead one to a bright specialization.

5 comments about Modern Compressible Flow.

1. This book was an indispensible study tool for my PhD qualifying exam in high temp gas dynamics. Before reading this book I had never had a formal compressible flow class and I think that it covers the fundamental concepts of frozen compressible flow very well. If you don't have an excellent understanding of normal and oblique shocks, expansion fans, nozzle flow, blunt body flow and shock tubes after reading this book, you haven't been paying attention!



2. I picked up this book for entertainment reading on my recent trip to barbados. The title of the book is indeed intriguing and understandably led me to believe the book would be a real page turner, I was dissapointed. Character development was slow and the main character Mr. Oblique Shock was totally unbelievable. In short the book left me wanting a more reasoned plot line, especially with regards to the theta beta mach rendering. Perhaps worth it if you can find it at a yard sale, the comic version preferably.



3. John Anderson has a very informal and entertaining style in his textbooks, and to me, its a great change of pace from most fluids texts. Compressible flow provides a great foundation for this (despite the very funny review below this one) surprisingly entertaining book.
   
   Anderson introduces concepts from one-dimensional flow to normal and oblique shocks to linearized flow theory in a story-like manner, with plenty of worked examples and appropriate end-of-chapter review questions. All in all, this book is about as approchable as you can get in the fluids field.



4. This book is a great graduate or undergraduate text on compressible flow. It covers all the major topics with thorough and elegant proofs of the equations. Anderson is probably one of the best authors who write about extended topics in fluid mechanics (CFD, aerodynamics, compressible flow). I reference this text often.



5. Clear,concse, written in easy to understand style... would definitely recommend this book for any introductory class on compressible flows.

5 comments about Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics.

1. This was a great book. It covered the important material and left out all of the extra garbage that most books carry on for pages about. The presentation was done using clear mathematics and modern, easily followed notation. The book is short making it practical to actually read the entire book if you are extremely busy. We used the book in conjunction with Hill. I don't recommend Hill because it is hard to follow.



2. A clear, concise explanation of statistical mechanics. Some people may complain about the "concise" part--in many cases, mathematical exercises are left as exercises to the student. However, this practice allows the reader to really understand the material by doing, not just reading. I learned stat mech for the first time from this book, and only examined other texts (mcquarrie or hill) afterwards.



3. I used this book while taking the course for which this book was designed, Prof. Chandler's stat mech course for first year graduate students.
   
   I agree with the reviewer who wrote that this book avoids a lot of filler that can distort the main thrust of the material at hand.
   
   I disagree with the reviewer who wrote that this is not the book for a beginner. I used this book having studied undergrad p-chem but essentially no stat mech. Being a concise text, one must read carefully to extract the point of each paragraph. I sometimes found myself re-reading certain sections a few times in order to understand them. The abundant prose should be evidence that the author is trying to provide a physical picture to improve the scientific intuition of the reader.
   
   This doesn't mean the book isn't for a beginner. It just means what you should already know: you will not learn stat mech by skimming any text just once with a pint of beer in your hand.
   
   I constantly return to this book for review of thermo and stat mech concepts. For my grad qualifying exams I mostly used McQuarrie for general p-chem overview, but switched right back to IMSM for thermo and stat mech review.
   
   If you're looking for a reference book with every possible stat mech problem worked out to help with your problem sets, this is not it. If you want to understand stat mech this book is the first step.



4. The book cover is in worse condition than I expected, but the contents are all there, and it came within a week of ordering.



5. After learning almost nothing in my graduate course on stat mech taught by a famous physicist, I decided I would have to teach myself Stat Mech over the summer. When I found this book, I really started to make progress. Right away I got the big picture on what statistical mechanics is all about, and that made all the difference. I was able to work my way quickly through the book, doing the problems as they came along in text and understand almost everything.
   
   I wasn't able to make it through the denser chapters at the end on nonequilibrium stat mech on my own, but the book was well worth the price and is one of my favorites. The explanations are pure gold.
   
   A few tips for the reader:
   1. Do the problems as your read. The best place for the problems in a textbook is in the text itself, not at the end of the chapter.
   
   2. Get the solutions manual
   I purchased the solutions manual so that I could check my solutions. It had about half the solutions and only half of them worked out in detail, but it was still very useful for getting started on some of the problems I wasn't sure how to approach.
   
   3. Make a notation conversion chart
   Some of the greek letters are different than the usual notation for physics courses, so I had to make a notation conversion chart on the front inside cover and that was very helpful.
   
   4. If you find the book too hard, use Schroeder's book as an introduction.
   
   5. Be prepared to see a missing spot on your shelf.
   I'm constantly loaning this book out to people in my research group and other students.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Physical Chemistry (2nd Edition).

1. The over-five hundred pages that make-up this "Schaum's Outline of Physical Chemistry" were dedicated to giving overview of every aspect of the subject. The book's presentations and analyses are easy-to-follow; and would be appreciated by any Physical Science undergrad.
   I valued its exploits in the fields of: Thermodynamics, Equilibrium Properties, Chemical Kinetics, and Intermolecular Forces. Its information are concise; yet, detailed enough. There are both tutorials and worked examples in every chapter: hence, making it a fine revision tool.
   However, bear in mind that the contents of this book are more or less obsolete. The fact that it has not been revised since 1988 is discouraging. In view of this, I am reluctant to recommend it!



2. The examples are from a different planet! The text is very general in the important concepts and too detailed in the obscure stuff; this is definintley not intended for someone new to PCHEM. Stick to you textbook, like Atkins, which probably has better explanations and problems.



3. For as cheap as it is, this is a great value. It reviews every concept in physical chemistry very well. Obviously it won't replace your textbook, but it will at least cover subjects that maybe your textbook omits. The outline was last updated in 1989, but, honestly, physical chemistry has not changed in at least the last twenty or thirty years. Conceptually, all of physical chemistry has remained the same, so I would not say that this book is obsolete.



4. I bought this book because I had a deficiency in physical chemistry owing to a bad teacher at my undergraduate study i chemistry. This book although cheap is garbage and is not useful at all. so do not buy it. If you are outside the USA don't buy books published in america because mostly they are for commercial purpose and not intended to teach you.



5. I have found the book to be fairly helpful. This book covers a lot of things not covered in class and I feel it depends on the course and who and how they are teaching it will be a factor in whether the book is helpful.

5 comments about Chemical, Biochemical, and Engineering Thermodynamics.

1. For a consolidated science as thermodynamics is, a concise textbook is a must. I consider Sandler's one as a top quality study material carefully conceived to give the reader a serious chance of really understanding the power, beauty and applicability of thermodynamics. However, to study from this book is a long-haul task and may not be wholly appropriate to undertake it as a part of an undergraduate course in chemical engineering thermodynamics, not unless you specially like the subject.
   On the other hand, for the graduate student set to perform research on the area, it is definitely a good starting point. Indeed, that is my current situation, having studied only the first starting chapters so far.
   In any case you better borrow it from the library and have a look on the book beforehand, otherwise chances are it will stand on your shelf unread until the entropy attains a maximum.



2. As already indicated, it has mistakes throughout, from the differential equation derivations to the data in the steam tables.
   
   The book is not very redeeming, the author(s?) seem to have a very difficult way of conveying even the simplest point. The book goes much more in depth than any engineering student would need.
   
   Don't even try to read through it either, this simply has proven itself to not be one of those kinds of books. To me, its a nice introduction to concepts, then you have to read the practice problems to actually understand whats going on.



3. The book level is indeed a little bit high for an undergraduate student, in the other hand, it's very practical in representing how to perform REAL and USEFUL calculations. I have two degrees in chemical and Process Engineer, and if you are a person who must work very often with process programming and simulation, this book is essential. If you're looking for more common information, basic concepts and definitions (enthalpy, cycles, steam tables, etc...), maybe you should try other books first, like Smith and Van Ness', or Van Wylen's book. It's mostly a book for chemical and process engineers, I wouldn't recommend it for mechanical, electric or other engineering fields.



4. I cannot believe that some people have given this book a bad review because they think that this book goes to in depth, covering areas that any engineer would not need. This book is extremely important for chemical engineers, dealing with 1st and 2nd law, cycles, chemical equilibrium, and reactors, areas of extreme importance for chemical engineers.
   
   What I like about this book is how the author starts from the big picture, and from there specific examples are derived. Let's put it this way, if you are a chemical engineer, this book will definetely help you understand one of the hardest classes in our curriculum; ChE thermodynamics.
   
   I should also emphasize that the understanding of this class is also going to depend on who teaches it.



5. This is a good book on chemical thermodynamics. However, it has relatively little to say that most biochemists, bioengineers or biochemical engineers will find interesting or useful. The title of the new edition is therefore a curiosity. It may be an echo of the recent change of name of many a university chemical engineering department. A book that integrated chemical thermodynamics, chemical engineering and biochemistry would be nice to have, but this book is not it.

3 comments about Thermodynamics, Statistical Thermodynamics, and Kinetics.

1. Buy Levines book on physical chemistry that is a much better text. I am not saying that is is the best because I have not read every thermo book but if you want good advice, then take my word and buy Levines book. It seems as though engels text has not been edited or proofread enough or maybe not at all. I think he just solved all the problems once and published it. There a numerous times in which he trys to make problems tricky by wording it unclearly, thinking he is smart or something, and the numerical answer he has in the back will be completely wrong. There is one problem I remember where he asks you to find the atomic weight of an atom and his answer is 1235 kg/mol or something ridiculous like that. Most of the time I can see where he made his mistakes, and notice that he tries to trick students and ends up fooling himself. Some people like texts because they are not thorough and make it easy to read a hard subject, so they don't care. But this guys just leaves things out completely.



2. This book is suitable for a themodynamics course in physical chemistry, in that gives a basic thermo course without the quantum portion in it, leaving that for a separate book. This book is a long way from the mathmatic rigor found in the Atkins text. The Atkins text was famous for its detailed proofs and brilliant math, but lacks a user-friendly feel. This book was user friendly but did not give details that could lend itself further study or understanding. If you are using this text, Mcquarrie's text is dated but is a wonderful suppliment to this text, it gives more detail where needed filling in the gaps where this text generally errs toward simplicity.
   The best thing about this book is its simplicity and its readability. The worst thing about this book is its simplicity because it does not explain in detail why the mathmatical model is the way it is because of the physical interactions.



3. As an undergraduate chemistry major, this is the first of my textbooks that I have sold after the course was over. The book does an adequate job of explaining the basics of thermodynamics and the macroscopic view of physical chemistry, but has some severe limitations. Equations are poorly organized and can be very difficult to find when you're searching for them, and the relationships between equations are often difficult to discern (a concept that seemed to me very central to undergraduate Pchem). The worst part of the book, however, is that it is a poorly edited first edition. Many of the problems in the back (and their accompanying answers) have been pulled from an out of print book by Gilbert Castellan, but the tables in the back have been updated with current numbers. This results in occasional correct answers that do not match the answers in the book.
   
   If your professor requires it, you're probably going have to buy it anyway, but if you're interested in a basic physical chemistry reference you're probably better off with Atkins.

5 comments about Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Dynamics.

1. It amazes me how someone could not find this text incredibly useful? It provides elaborate in-chapter examples, numerous practice examples, and a description on how to attack a given problem at the end of the chapter. I am a Senior and I can honestly say that this is the best text I have used.....



2. I used this book for the course of Dynamics in Civil Engineering. It was the textbook of my class. The examples are basic, and show you how to use the basic principles of dynamics to solve the more challeging problems at the end of each chapter. I enjoyed a lot this book, and I recommend it to everyone.



3. While the theory is somehow digestible, the problems are way too difficult and out of the real world. TO THE AUTHORS: When you imagine a mechanical system to be analyzed, try to make it real, not weird. Set as unknown the parameters that cannot be measured not those that can. Please, don't distort the engineering thinking of our students. (By the way: Fig. B.1 on page 1297 shows a crankshaft not a camshaft! Your solutions to problems 16.107 and 16.108 in the Instructor's Manual do not include the normal acceleration of the clamp. Energy Conservation when applied to Prob. 16.108 gives a term in omega^2).



4. I found this book difficult to read and the example problems did not help with the homework problems. I went to return this book after taking Dynamics to find out that an 8th edition is being released and the book store would only offer my $7.25 for a book I paid well over $100.00. The fact that an 8th edition is being release so soon tells me that this book is flawed and being rewritten.



5. I was unfortunate enough to use this book. If you are an undergrad run away. Yes if you study the book excessively it might help but it has crummy examples and getting specific information without reading the whole chapter 2-3 times is like pulling teeth.

3 comments about Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes.

1. The second edition of "Solar Engineering..." is a much expanded and updated version of the original, which was already a decent textbook. It covers almost everything there is to know about engineering of solar energy systems, and the presentation is clear and well organized. The division into "basics" and "applications" sections is a very sensible way to get oriented before plunging into the depth of a specific technology, especially since solar thermal applications tend to cover a wide variety of technologies. The gradual and systematic approach makes this book a very good textbook for beginners. The wide scope makes it also a pretty good reference source for practitioners who are looking for a specific bit of information.

   The new chapter on photovoltaic cells is a nice touch. While this is not a "thermal process," it is still important for any practitioner of solar thermal to know what's happening in the other corner of the field. A presentation of PV at the level that can be understood by non-physicists is a very welcome addition.

   My only complaint is that recent significant developments are not well represented (I guess much of this developed after the book was written, so this complaint is not really aimed at the authors). Topics such as non-imaging concentrators, high-temperature thermal receivers for Brayton cycle, and solar chemistry are either briefly mentioned or absent altogether. The more traditional applications such DHW are of course presented in detail, but their significance to the energy market remains negligible. I would prefer to see more on applications that have the potential to make a major impact. Hopefully this will be included in the next edition...




2. This is the textbook of fundamentals of solar energy engineering.



3. This is the best book to have an initial view about solar energy and its aplicattion.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics (McGraw-Hill Series in Fundamentals of Physics).

1. I think this book is an example of what sometimes happens when popularity overtakes quality. This book is definitely popular. Some might even call it a classic. But it can't really compare with newer thermodynamics books that more closely follow the modern approach of teaching thermo. It would not be fair to say that the book is incomplete, as it covers all of the necessary topics. However, it does a fairly good job of making the subject more boring than it needs to be. And to anyone who has learned thermodynamics must realize how serious a charge this is. The single biggest obstacle to students struggling to learn thermodynamics is that they find the subject boring, and this book doesn't do anything to help the situation.



2. This book left me with two different impressions. On one hand,
   it is extremely well readable (in fact, some explanations are
   even too long and boring and could have been kept shorter).
   As such, it is a very smooth introduction to equilibrium
   statistical physics and its relationship with classical
   thermodynamics. This is the good news.
   The bad news is that under pages and pages of textual, simple
   explanation, the author hides real difficult and subtle points.
   So in fact it is a big book with a lot of pages that only
   brings you up to a modest height in statistical physics.
   Compared to Tolman, the information density is quite low.
   But then, that's what makes it an easy read.



3. I suspect the text was actually designed to inefficiently convey ideas. I cant believe someone has not written a student guide to fill in the holes for all the subtle leaps, overwhich students are expected to understand and apply.



4. One thing that distinguishes this book from the rest on stat mech is its emphasis on the physical content behind the equations. The author takes great pain to develop and elucidate, at every turn, a coherent physical picture for the edifice of statistical mechanics, in much the same style as the classic book by Tolman. However, if you are learning stat mech/thermo for the first time, you probably will be too busy familiarizing yourself with the equations to be able to appreciate the value of his explanations and motivations, which may just seem pointless rants. So, simply, if you are a newbie, try one of the more mediocre textbooks on stat mech, to learn the subject at a superficial level. Once you've mastered the more superficial stuff, you will come around to love this book, assuming that you are a reflective person.



5. Reif reads like thermodynamics is a brand new result and he has written the first giant paper on it. Not only does this book cover every area under the Sun, from the law of mass action to kinetic theory, but he develops each topic in a formal way, with logical consistency and that curious, gray-haired insight.
   
   I continually look to Reif when more "advanced" books fumble explanations. With the firm conceptual grounding I get there, I can then intuit what other authors are trying to convey. How many astute readers of other thermodynamics textbooks have any idea when Boltzmann's canonical distribution can be used? Or who know the difference between this and Boltzmann's equation?
   
   If you are an instructor, the illuminating end-of-chapter problems will be a boon. If you are a student, they will also be, yet less appreciated likely. No matter who you are, if you want to really know thermo and stat mech and are willing to _think_, then buy this book before some competing, flashy, colorized textbook drives it out of print.