No comments about Opto-Mechanical Systems Design, Third Edition (Optical Engineering).

1 comments about Cardiovascular Solid Mechanics.

1. It is as good as a brand new one! I ordered it on Monday afternoon, and it arrived at my apartment at 10:00 AM on Wednesday. Fast shipping!

No comments about Computational Fluid Dynamics with Moving Boundaries (Dover Books on Engineering).

2 comments about Nanophysics and Nanotechnology: An Introduction to Modern Concepts in Nanoscience (Physics Textbook).

1. Wolf explains from the vantage of a physicist what exactly is nanophysics, and what the engineering implications might be. He describes how the size of atoms, at 0.1 nanometers or so, sets a natural lower limit, and how the scale of nanometers lets us see and use quantum phenomena for designing new materials.
   
   A solid background in quantum mechanics would not be remiss, before trying this book. Wolf offers a bottoms-up approach to understanding the various branches of nanotech research, which is currently burgeoning.



2. This excellent textbook presents the basic concepts of Nanotechnology and Nanophysics in a well structured, solid manner, without leaving any aspects unattached. It is updated, with references to recently published work in top rated journals. The main advantage of the book is the wide spectrum of the issues covered, ranging from biology to quantum computing, allowing future applications to be tackled by the students easier.

No comments about Metal Forming: Mechanics and Metallurgy.

1 comments about Interacting Electrons and Quantum Magnetism (Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics).

1. I have to be honest and say that I have to spend time with this book to understand everything, but I think this is one of those books that's worth the effort. AFTER a many body class this book is an appropriate way to foray into magnetism. The first thing i'd do is prove eq 2.9 and read chapters 1-3, just read (having some companion text for this 'easier' material is useful here). Once you are beyond chapter 3 you can start to calculate the results yourself. Auerbach talks about the ferro- and antiferro- magnets and different spin representations, RVBs, order and disoder, etc. There is a discussion of the NLsM and some large-N methods. I found it helpful to pull out original references at times. At the end i think you gain perspective on quantitative tools employed in magnetism, but realise also that this book is a text and therefore an introduction to the field. In that sense, i think the point here is to get some basic principle and learn various methods to go apply to new problems. I dont know any other book like it.

5 comments about Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics.

1. This is a challenging book to use if you are studying thermodynamics. It is concise; the theory and notation used were well done. There were some formulation mistakes in the Maxwell relations table and other little formulation mistakes. The author uses well known classical and statistical formulae well and good derivations (I liked that). Some of the problem sets were inconsistent with areas covered in a few chapters and some were oversimplified. Overall a decent book to use if your taking statistical thermo.



2. We used this book in a undergrad thermo course, it was almost of no use. It covered a fair amount of material, though I have seen books that cover more (Look at the dimensions, it is small and only about 400 pages.) It moved quickly, skipping details, especially in the proofs. I feel it would be a good summary for grad students who have studied thermodynamics before, but there are many better books out there for students seeking a first course.



3. I read Carter's book as a reference to my graduate thermo course. The good thing is, that it is so far the only book I have come across, that covers both classical and statistical thermodynamics equally. You will find that most books that claim to do both (Callen's, for example) are in fact classical thermo texts with some statistical stuff dangling on it.
   
   The downside, is that it is a little too trivial. Having almost no exposure in stat. mech., I still find the exercises a little too easy. Concepts and derivations are spotty at times, and "leaps of faith" are common. Perhaps Carter wanted to spare the student from all the formalism. As a result, I needed a second book (I used Atkins' text on physical chemistry) to supplement my understanding.
   
   I suppose this book aimed for a senior undergrad level. Despite the brevity, I would recommend this book as an introductory book on the "new" thermodynamics.



4. I read this book pretty much cover to cover while preparing for a PhD qualify exam. It's the nicest thermodynamics book I've seen. The fact that I could just sit and read it like a novel was great (I never much liked thermo). Of course, it's also at a very basic level - it doesn't cover canonical or grand canonical formalism at all. But it has the basics of classical and even some quantum stat mech, and a good little bit on information theory.
   
   For those who think it's too basic - come on, it's an undergrad book. Good for a second or third year course. The book description calling it "an important reference book for every professional" is puzzling, since it's not a reference book (not for the professional,anyway). But it is well written.
   
   And it's very much overpriced, so I wouldn't buy it. But check it out from the library.



5. Honestly, I was dissappointed in this book. It was too basic and didnt really explain anything in a great amount of detail. The exersizes were way too easy. I am an undergraduate physics major, there is no reason I should be able to do every problem in a chapter in 2 or 3 hours. That is unheard of. I really did not learn any thing from this book. Maybe it is good for a review, but it really is not good for learning the topic for the first time. Find something more detailed and rigorous.

5 comments about The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History From the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon.

1. Good historical overview of materials,interspersed with just enough scientific writing to keep the scientifically inclined layman interested. This book is a fascinating account of how civilization discovered and in turn was shaped by the most prosaic of things: The underlying, physical building blocks (I especially loved the discussion of the genesis of steel and its effects). I read it three times and bought two copies to give away as presents



2. The thesis of "The Substance of Civilization," by Stephen L. Sass, is that history is "an alloy of all the materials that we have invented or discovered, manipulated, used, and abused, and each has its tale to tell." Sass, a professor of materials science at Cornell, describes the principal difficulties, and how they were overcome, in the acquisition and manipulation of clay, copper, bronze, gold, silver, iron, glass, alloys, polymers, diamonds, composites, and silicon (coming in a sense full circle). In the chapter on glass, for example, we learn the difference in properties between thin and thick glass, and how the molecular structure of glass creates those properties. Then we see the history of glass, from speculation about the first glass glazes on 4000 B.C. clay pots to a brief discussion of optical fibers.
   Sass is about as good at making his subject seem engaging as is the average high school professor. While his few amusing anecdotes are well chosen, they don't mesh well with the actual information, which is delivered like a series of slides. In his historical stories, he affects a clever, cynical style but often can't quite pull it off. Switching between materials science, macroengineering, and politics within a page is often a schizophrenic experience. "Substance" would have been better written as a textbook, and Sass is well equipped to write both the body and the sidebars. But this indexless, freeform structure serves more to conceal the usefulness of the book than to package it. With his intelligence and expertise, Sass was a few good decisions away from a readable book. He made very few of them.



3. Wow. I found this book more interesting than any other I've read in the last couple of years. It's a great introduction to an interesting field on which few people ever focus.

   I'm a recovering English major who studied very little science in school but have been reading more science as an adult. But, of course, I've been limited by my lack of the technical background most science writing demands. This book (while it certainly doesn't ignore the science) does a reasonably good job of conveying the substance of the scientific principles involved in the field in a non-technical way (though I'll admit to some moments of saying "well, I THINK I understand what that meant.")

   But what I really enjoyed is the way in which the author conveyed some of the historical and economic importance of materials science -- raising issues such as why the Romans didn't have steel or how a misunderstanding of the structure of aluminum had a direct impact upon the economy of post-WWII England. After finishing the book, I feel I have a new way of looking at the man-made world and an appreciation of its complexity that I'd missed before.




4. "History is an alloy of all the materials that we have invented or discovered,manipulated,used,and abused,and each has its tale to tell." These are the words of the author,a professor of material sciences at Cornell University.He is obviously in love with the subject he teaches.He reminds me of one of my Chemistry professors who was in the lab on a Saturday afternoon when a student happened to come by,and said;"Do you have to work on Saturday's?" He replied;"Son this isn't work,it's my hobby." Reading this book,one gets the feeling you are just having a friendly discussion with him about the subject that is his work,interest,fascination,and most of all what his love resolves around.Just the opposite of a Librarian I was having a social chat with one day.I asked what she liked to read;and the reply stunned me."I really don't like to read much;I get too much of it at work every day".
   Sass is a very good writer,particularly considering his profession.I don't say this as a slur;but generally good ,interesting writing is not the strong point of technical people.Carl Sagan is a great exception to this,and it shows Sass loves materials like Sagan loved the universe.Although I am an engineer,took courses in materials;I never heard them talked about like this.
   Sass shows how materials have influenced civilizations from the Stone Age to the present time and will continue to do so for the future.Not only that,but there will be materials invented at an astonishing rate,even more so than the last half century.Just imagine the things that have become commonplace in that time and how much their existance is dependent on space age materials.Dreams are the ideas behind inventions;but materials are what makes them happen.
   I read a lot of history,and particularly of warfare.I always believed that the one with the best weapon always wins the war.Now,after this excellent book,I have come to believe that the best weapon entails having the best materials to build them with.A great read.



5. I have read a vast quantity of books in my lifetime and believe that I have come across several great classics that fell through the cracks. This is one of them. There is hitch to this! It is parallel to the fate of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The Jungle was written to agitate social change and hit the literal stomach instead. The Substance of Civilization was written for light scientific interest and hit the survivalist instinct instead.
   
   I came across this book during the time of Y2K concerns. This is a pertinant survivalist handbook. It is how to start an economy from the literal dirt. I think this book draws the standard or baseline in answering, "How much science does an adult survivalist need to know?" Some people will find themselves short of science to meet this reasonable standard of scientific literacy. (I recommend the Beka science text books sold at Christian Liberty starting with the 4th grade. I think that is the one that teaches you how to measure the temperature through the use of a cricket. The 4th grade science book without meaning to unwinds those long descriptive garden walks in British 19th century novels. A reader is a little more clued in.)

1 comments about The Superalloys: Fundamentals and Applications.

1. Just read this book and thought it did a very good job introducing a technical person to superalloys for gas turbine engines. Reed combines the technical and practical issues of these alloys in a very readable manner. He covers the relevant materials science topics, and also gets into the basics of processing, and applications like disks and blades. Being a scientist involved with high temperature materials for more than 20 years, and having published many papers in the subject area, I can vouch to the quality of the book and would recommend it to anyone working on or with high temperature alloys, or, to a student in ME, materials science or metallurgy. He also does a good job reporting on very recent efforts in areas like alloy development and life prediction.

1 comments about Advanced Engineering Dynamics.

1. This book was used by us for a two quarter course. The book starts off with newtonian dynamics and introduces analytical mechanics in the later chapters. The book has sufficient number of solved examples with interesting exercise problems (Answers provided for odd numbered problems). The author does a great job explaining newtonian dynamics. The explanations are clear, terse and to the point. But I feel the analytical mechanics part could have been dealt in a much more better way. This is by far the best book I have read on this topic.