5 comments about Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Analysis and Design.

1. This book is a good source for determining all the design needs for HVAC systems from calculating the heating /cooling load to duct design and fan selection which is essential to assure an economical, energy-efficient, maintainable and flex design that will only not be technically adequate but also meet the user within the allocated budget. I consider this book a key to get in the HVAC industry and a reference for HVAC study courses.



2. This is an excellent HVAC text. The concepts are clearly explained and well developed. The references in the book are current with ASHRAE standards which is of utmost utility and importance. The minor drawback from the text is the simplicity of the examples; fortunately the excellent explanation and development of the concepts by the authors helps in overcoming this small flaw. Excellent book overall. I highly recommend it.



3. This book is equal in quality of content to edition 5 except that the version of edition 6 being sold here does not contain the CD normally included with this textbook. The publisher's web site states "New to this edition (edition 6) is the inclusion of additional realistic, interactive and in-depth examples on CD". This CD would also contain the software that was included with edition 5. According to the publisher's tech support however, the version of edition 6 being sold by Amazon.com is for use under the guidance of an instructor where apparently the material on the CD would not be needed. If this book is for personal use I recommend a version that includes the CD.



4. I am holding beside me a 6th edition with the CD in the back of the book. The 6th edition DOES include a CD, unlike what the previous review wrote. I had to write this so others are not mislead. Maybe some books people are selling don't include it -- what to do? Just ask the seller if their book has a CD with it. Mine does, and others do too.



5. By far the worst text book I've ever had to use. Riddled with errors. Poor and incomplete explanations of complex subject matter. Examples and problems often with errors. Does lead the student into intense studying of content, if only to understand exactly what authors are saying and whether it is correct or not. Included software worthless except for limited use in solving problems in text.
   
   This book should be offered free to India, Japan, and China to give us an edge over their HVAC engineerng expertise.

No comments about Mineral Processing Plant Design, Practice, and Control (2 Volume Set).

No comments about Biology: Concepts & Investigations.

2 comments about Civil Engineering Materials (2nd Edition).

1. Civil Engineering Materials,by Shan Somayaji, is an excellent tool for learning the fundamentals of materials used for civil engineering. The book consists of Theoretical material with examples and graphs that reinforce the concepts covered. The key equations are set in bold, similar to other engineering text books. Unlike other engineering texts, this book does not confuse the reader. This is acomplished by providing only the material relevent to the current section. The material included consists of materials from aggregates to concrete to lumber and its grading. I used this book to help me complete a intoductory to engineering materials course. I would reccomend this book to people who have completed a strength of materials course and are interested in gaining knowledge of the most common materials used in the civil engineering profession.



2. This is a good book that provides a simple reference for civil engineering students. You probably need to have some previous knowledge in deformable mechanics to have a comprehensive understanding of the material. This would not be a problem except that many schools (mine in particular) require a CE materials course before taking junior level deformable bodies. Students should not be deterred by this and will have no problem understanding the bulk of the material, as long as the professors using this text are aware of this.

5 comments about Student's Solutions Manual for Thermodynamics, Statistical Thermodynamics, & Kinetics.

1. Thomas Engel's Physical Chemistry is a book full of mistakes as well as stupid problems... The Quantum chemistry part is horribly explained(about 10 chapters). Which makes me think... perhaps the author can not explain the material because he does not understand it. Engel take some more quantum classes or repeat them, and then write a book about a subject you have not mastered. I want my money back.



2. I've used half of the book now. The layout is not very organized. I found the graphical representations useful.
   
   ok, 2nd semester in work. I'd prefer to downgrade this rating to negative 5 if I could. This book has turned into a major disaster. It is so riddled with errors...the derivations are never right. Everytime something doesn't work out right it's because the book is wrong. flat out.
   
   This book gets my strongest disapproval possible. Buying this book is throwing away your money. Thanks engel. Thanks for all those hours lost trying to figure out what mistake I had make working out the derivations in this book only to find the book was wrong all along.
   
   I'm still a little bitter about the false advertising when I got it...re: spartan software student copy that wasn't included.



3. A modern, clear, and extensive physical chemistry text. It does break tradition with the heavyweights in the field (Atkins, McQuarrie), but does so for good reason: there aren't enough computational background or computer computation applications in the others. Those books do a great job with the theory and mathematics, but this book show's you how to use that mathematics to really understand chemistry. It focuses heavily computational chemistry with actual software and the Spartan Quantum chemistry software that book's authors use is very inexpensive if you buy the student version. As a bonus, this book is the most colorful and well laid-out and edited one available today.



4. I used this book for my pchem courses and found it to be completely worthless. While it does focus on computational crap that's not very important the first time around. The quantum chapters are pretty poorly done, and well the thermo stuff is just boring. All in all, I found this text to be useless. The derivations include many errors, and often are presented before the text introduces what they're trying to derive thereby further confusing you. You're better off not buying this book, unless you need for class, and buying one of the more used books like Levine's or Macquarrie's.



5. Let me begin by saying - I love chemistry. I love math. I'm a total nerd. But this book turned me off to both. Taking a year of physical chemistry is hard - but this book makes it even harder. This is the first year my professors have used this book, and I think it will be their last.
   
   The key points aren't covered in detail. The math is overly complicated, and the problems don't hit the right points. I don't have a lot of P.Chem textbook knowledge, but there has to be something better out there.
   
   I wouldn't recommend the text at all - but if you buy it, you ABSOLUTELY need the solutions manual.

1 comments about Transparent Conductive Zinc Oxide: Basics and Applications in Thin Film Solar Cells (Springer Series in Materials Science).

1. ZnO thin film is coming to potential market in solar industry, on TCO coating, ZnO is ideal materials as alternative candidate instead of ITO and FTO (Florine doped SnO coating).

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.

4 comments about Composite Airframe Structures.

1. This book covers the essentials when working with composite structures. Its easy to read and understand...it is a must for your Composite Career



2. This is an excellent book for layman and expert alike. Lots of manufacturing and tooling information as well as structural analysis data. I used this as the text book for an "Introduction to Composite Tooling" class that I teach. The book was published in China and does have some typos, but other than that, an excellent book!



3. This work of engineering literature from M.C-Yu Niu is one of the few books engineers or engineers wanabe need to possess in order to learn basics of composite airframe design of modern aircrafts. Of course, like other books from the same author, it is mainly composed of introductory material but it as proven so far to be useful. As a practicing aerospace airframe engineering specialist for a major aeronautic company, I still refer to the data contained in this book once in a while. For many reasons I give it a 4.



4. My husband requested this book to have for a reference book at work. The first book came in a box that had something terribly heavy dropped on the end, as it totally distroyed the box, & book inside. With one phone call the book was replaced, and the new one was shipped next day delivery at no additional cost to me. As for the book, he is very pleased with this book.

2 comments about Wills' Mineral Processing Technology, Seventh Edition: An Introduction to the Practical Aspects of Ore Treatment and Mineral Recovery.

1. Its a readable book for being technical, its information is mediocre though. Work out examples and pictures very useful in understanding information.



2. This comprehensive book focuses on beneficiation methods. These include crushing, grinding, comminution, froth flotation, dense medium separation, etc. Parts of this book are quantitative, and suggested Excel spreadsheet formats are provided.
   
   There is a relatively sophisticated introduction to the economics of metal recovery. For instance, when tin occurs within easily-accessible alluvial deposits, as little as 0.01% tin (that's a mere 100 ppm) is commercially exploitable. In contrast, when tin occurs in veins that require deep mining to reach it, a minimum level of 1.5% may be necessary to make it worth getting (p. 4).
   
   Considering their increasing importance in recent years, there is little attention devoted to the rare earth minerals. However, the table provided on the polarity of minerals (p. 270) includes some commonly REE-bearing ones (e. g. apatite, monazite). Likewise, the table provided on the electrical behavior of minerals (p. 367) includes the same two minerals.
   
   Virtually all mining operations involve the production of mine waste. Apropos to this, there is a helpful chapter on methods of dealing with mine tailings.

5 comments about Thermal Physics (2nd Edition).

1. Huge content. Good book with extra information but dont deal with it if you are not taking the assigned course.



2. This is quite possibly the worst physics book I have had to use during my entire undergraduate career (and it doesn't help that my professor is pretty bad also). I am on chapter 14 and I can safely say that I know nothing about statistical/thermal physics. Like many other reviewers have said, this book is simply an exercise in reading equations. Very few times does Kittel actually explain why or what he is doing. He doesn't group important information together and, even when there is an important equation, he doesn't highlight it in anyway (yet he'll make sure to outline a completely useless formula for some small principle). He goes through the math, but doesn't explain how he goes from one step to the next half the time. The problems, in addition to the bad text, did not help me understand what I read at all. It is simply a long chore of manipulating equations to get the one Kittel wants. If your school uses this book, I would suggest shopping around for some supplemental reading.



3. In taking a second undergraduate course in thermodynamics, I had to suffer through this book on top of a terrible professor. The explanations are decent in and of themselves, but the book's cohesiveness (i.e. how it interlinks seemingly separate topics, as all physics texts should) is awful. For example, Ch. 8 on heat engines does not even attempt to make a connection with the simple systems exchanging heat or particles that were talked about previously. It just dives right in and leaves the reader guessing. Maybe this is obvious to Kittel and Kroemer, but the answer is certainly not obvious to me. Also, there are way too many applications that only serve to confuse the reader even more. The problems only serve as practice in mathematics.
   
   A good physics text should be clear and mathematically rigourous but at the same time it should give much intuition. This book did nothing but confuse me.



4. This is the worst book I have ever purchased (and the Solid State Physics as well -also by Kittel). The books have no solved examples. I am using these books in my Solid State Physics class, and have to do very hard homework and exam problems, yet I have no examples in the books. This has been a nightmare. I do not recomend these books to anybody. I believe, even if you ask Kittel, he would not know how he derived half of his formulas.



5. The book itself is a classic and generations of good physicists have studied from this book, so I'm not going to review the book itself. What I did not like one bit was the poor paper quality. The pages are so thin that print from the next page is clearly visible. The last three pages (one blank and two printed with constants, non critical) had been glued together. I'm not going to return the book because if I do, it'll waste paper as they'll throw my current copy away, but if I'm paying $122 for a book, I'd expect atleast decent publishing if not stellar publishing.