5 comments about Vectors, Tensors and the Basic Equations of Fluid Mechanics (Dover Books on Engineering).

1. This would make a good introduction to tensors for physics students (e.g. for General Relativity), though the approach is a completely classical, using index notation; you won't find anything on manifolds or differential forms here. An interesting feature is an extensive chapter on local surface theory (e.g. Gaussian curvature, but only after introducing the full Riemann tensor), which is good for building intuition about curvature in higher dimensions. While the applications are all in n <= 3 dimensions, the mathematics is done in a way that easily generalizes to higher dimensions.



2. The title and many of the Amazon reviews of this book are misleading in my opinion. This book should have been titled `The Mathematical Foundation of Fluid Mechanics'. This book describes, in gory detail, the fundamental mathematics of viscous fluid flow. The text is, obviously, heavy on vector and tensor calculus. The first few chapters review the basic theorems of vector and tensor calcular relevent to fluid dynamics. The basic equations of fluid dynamics are then derived, and the analysis is extended to viscous flow. Finally, Aris discusses coordinate transformation and tensor analysis (that is really more of a lead-in to GR than fluid dynamics, although it is interesting to see how this all ties together!). This is NOT a `complete' text in hydrodynamics. There is no discussion of turbulence, supersonic flow, instabilities, etc. This is a text on the mathematical (and geometrical) foundations of hydrodynamics. As such, I view this as an advanced text for a researcher who wants to understand hydrodynamics at it's most complete, fundamental mathematical level. If you are searching for any other type of hydrodynamics text, just move on. The reason that I only gave this book four stars was because I feel that hydrodynamics is a much richer discipline than what is contained within this book. Some of the most enthusiastic reviews greatly overstate the value of working through this book. You will learn quite a bit by going through this book, and it is a great text IF you want to study the foundations of hydrodynamics in great detail, but you will need (alot) more if you want to begin to appreciate fluid mechanics.



3. There is some very important information given in this book. However I still need to do much reading around tensor calculus as I feel that there were not enough worked examples using Christoffel notation.



4. the book was gr8!!
   
   brand new as promised of course, and promptly delivered. im verrry happy



5. this is really a nice book if you want to work on fluid mechanics. it provides you the equations of fluid mechanics in different coordinate system.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Engineering Mechanics.

1. I have had Statics and will be taking Dynamic's next semester. I bought this book so I could get a head start on next semester as I heard the professor is tough and the material is difficult.

   The parts that cover Statics were a very good supliment to what I had learned last semester. Kind of like the Reader's Digest version, I couldn't figure out what parts they had left out. It seemed pretty complete to me. They even covered stuff we didn't. We didn't have anything in our class wrt differential equations, but this book did. Since I have had diff eq, it was nice to see it being put to use and I learned something.

   On the Dynamic's side, it is a bit of a tough go. I am using this as a primary/only text and do not have the benifit of an instructor. I am wading through slowly. I wish there was a bit more explination before the examples. This is where an in class text book would be helpful. I believe that this book will be a valuable resource when I actually start the class.




2. I have always liked the Schaum's series of books. They are straightforward and to the point. This text was no exception.

   The most important aspect of this book is that it can be used as a supplement to most of the popular texts. I used it along with Beer & Johnston and Shames.

   Quite a useful book on a difficult, hands-on subject.




3. I have always liked the Schaum's series of books. They are straightforward and to the point. This text was no exception.

   The most important aspect of this book is that it can be used as a supplement to most of the popular texts. I used it along with Beer & Johnston and Shames.

   Quite a useful book on a difficult, hands-on subject.




4. This book was helpful in putting together arguments for problems I was working on.



5. I used this outline for review and with some problems I was having in a course on computational robotics I was taking a couple of years ago and I found this book to be an excellent review that answered all of my questions. However, my stepson used it in his statics and dynamics classes to help with the material when it was being presented to him for the first time, and he said he felt it brushed over some of the material in both classes. Even though this is a hefty outline, perhaps it would be better if they dedicated separate Schaum's outlines to each subject - statics and dynamics - and covered more ground in each subject rather than putting both subjects in the same book. This outline even has one chapter on mechanical vibrations, but it is just barely an overview and hardly gets into the subject at all. It might be best if that chapter were deleted entirely and more space spent on the subjects at hand.

No comments about Engineering Fluid Mechanics.

2 comments about Mechanics of Materials.

1. I bought this book as a supplementary reference for mechanics of materials, which I do at my job. The book is well written, with plenty of example problems sprinkled throughout. I also found this book to be very comprehensive. For example, I found material on the mechanics of shrink wrapping, which I don't see in many other books on strength of materials. The only thing I would fault is that some of the chapters are too long and would have been better from a pedogical standpoint if they'd been broken up into smaller chapters. In particular, Chapter 7 on beam stresses could have been divided into separate chapters concentrating on pure bending and transverse loading. That way, a discussion of pure bending leads naturally into transverse loading. Instead, these topics are sort of thrown together into one big chapter, overwhelming the student. But overall, it's an excellent volume. Given a choice, I'd recommend Beer and Johnston, but you won't go wrong with Riley et al. either.



2. This book was written for seasoned professionals. I am a engineering student, and I depend on this book to help me understand mechanics of materials, but it simply doesn't do this. The authors of the book assume that all readers already know the material. It is extremely frustrating to read this book. The example problems are ambigous. The reading simply does not prepare the reader for the problems at the end of each chapter. The only reason why I give this book two stars is because they have very good visual illustrations.

5 comments about Fundamentals of Microelectronics.

1. I might not have a chance to attend Behzad Razavi lecture because i live far away (Malaysia) and no $$ to study in UCLA Electrical Engineering Department. I have read his book (Fundamental of Microelectronics) and i love this book very much, every single words and statement are written so clear and precise to let you understand. I believe he is a good lecturer.
   If one day i became Electronics Designer, ASIC Designer, Analog / Digital Layout Designer, etc in big company, i sure treat him a great dinner / lunch.



2. I have spent quite a bit of money on electrical engineering textbooks, and I have to say that out of the 50 or so that I have, that this book outdoes all of them by far. This author presents the material so clearly that most, if not all of your questions will be answered. The book is super cheap too! I dont get it! This book is priceless...my only gripe is that there are no answers in the back for the homework probs...



3. Dr. Razavi has written almost all of his books in a very beginner level easy to understand format. This book is pretty much the same. I like reading his books and I would say they rank very high amongst similar books. I liked this book a lot but I was expecting more MOS coverage than Bipolar. Also, since this book came out when technologies have changed considerably, I would have expected it to delve deeper into the small dimension design issues. I understand it deals with fundamentals but fundamentals have changed significantly over the past decade. This material duplicates that found in most other fundamental books albeit presented in a trademark "Razavi" method. I liked the exercises which have some challenging problems and design questions. In a future revision, I hope Dr. Razavi considers adding chapters on modern MOSFET circuit design challenges.



4. This is book is so clear and very easy to read and showed many hidden concepts to me , and its better than sedra/smith book ,if you want to read sedra's book,you've to read that book first , its very nice , i would give it 10 stars ! i will buy any book by this author , and i wish he writes another books.



5. wow, the amount of typos that I discovered (let alone missed) in the first 4 chapters is staggering. Wouldn't recommend.

4 comments about How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Alien Invaders, Ninjas, and Zombies.

1. heard this guy, Dr. Daniel Wilson on AfterDark. I had to listen to the full program. his tech knowledge is unbelievable and his mind is like an encyclopedia of cyber-geek-robot info. Can't wait to get the book....ordering another for my techno-son. can't believe I've never heard of him!



2. Wilson reviews the latest robotics technology and creatively tackles how we might best use it to conquer some of our most-feared enemies: Zombies, aliens, etc. While the read is light and hilarious, the advice is good and the science is sound. A someone who doesn't read anything like Popular Mechanics, this was also a neat update on real military robotics progress. I never knew that I might need to trick out my roomba to kill alien home invaders, but now I know how!



3. Daniel Wilson, robotics PhD, presents us with his third book regarding technology. He originally taught us how to survive when the robots eventually rise up against us in How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion. Now that we know how to defeat the robots, we can use them to defend us as we must be aware of other dangers such as zombies, ninjas, aliens, Godzilla, pirates, and great white sharks to name a few. Wilson's ideas are scientifically sound and completely viable as he uses his knowledgeable background in robotics for his writing. He mixes in humorous scenarios based on cliched Hollywood movies to give the reader a light spirited trip through a robotics debriefing lesson and where the world stands in robotic advancements. Not quite as funny as the first book but just as informative. The book itself is made of foil-edged glossy pages and filled with silhouetted artwork that stands out on its own. It's entertaining, educational, and amusing to read. Also check out Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived to round out his writing collection.



4. Daniel H Wilson has a very unique style of writing. His first two books How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion and Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived were absolutely brilliant, masterpieces in fact. How to Build a Robot Army although still good, when compared to those other two books doesn't come anywhere near to jumping over the extremely benchmark. The other books have a lot more humour and spend a little less time on the technical side and explain it in a lot more entertaining way than this. If you haven't read Wilson's previous two books I would suggest reading them first.
   
   Richard Horne (the illustrator) has done another magnificent job with this volume though. I can't fault him at all.
   
   How to Build a Robot Army is basically using your everyday robot companions to combat the Hollywood threat scenarios of aliens, vampires, Jaws and other unwanted visitors.
   
   Although Wilson stumbled to maintain his high benchmark with his third effort, Wilson's fourth book Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahahaha! will be worth checking out.

5 comments about Incompressible Flow.

1. This book presents a horrible introduction to graduate level fluid mechanics. Some faculties like to teach from this book because of a few well-written sections near the end of an otherwise disastrous attempt on the subject. Kundu or Currie present a much more comprehensive approach to introducing the wonderful subject of fluids and the different solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations.



2. The text makes a clear presentation of the material, both in terms of giving background on index notation, and on deriving the equations of fluid motion. Well written and very clear.
   
   One main complaint is the lack of examples that are worked out for the reader. Especially for subject matter that rewards familiarity and repetition, this would be a helpful inclusion



3. Overall, not a bad text. Definitely written for engineers, though. Many of the equations are rewritten in different coordinate systems which I found unecessary. In addition, some results are just introduced as fact with much of the mathematical rigor used to derive them left out. The physical arguments and treatment of Exact Solutions to Navier-Stokes are excellent.



4. The book store service is quick and good, but there are still errors in the book even through this is the third edition.



5. This book is an excellent text book on an advanced topic. But it does have some issues like any text book I saw. 1) quite a lot of editting errors; 2) Lack of detailed examples; 3) Some derivations are not complete; 4) Index notation not explained very well. However, it is still the best in its class IMO. Some other good books are by Currie and White. Currie's book is probably the easiest to understand. But neither covers as many important topics as this one. These three books together plus the one by Aris are a good combo to study this topic.

5 comments about Introduction to Fluid Mechanics.

1. This book is good at the respeact that it has a variety amount of problem of each type that the author WANT students to solve.
   
   The above is the positive side. But in the negative respect:
   
   1) This book doesn't have enough samples to help the students the grasp on the correct idea, maybe he should add an extra one or two samples into each applicable section of the chapters. (The author sometimes expect us to get all different types of problems by only explaining one type of problems, which left us in blank in approaching other types of problems.)
   
   2) The author has a hard time formating the paragraphs to make it readable.(It is word heavy in some sections that makes me stop reading. In addition, it is too verbose in some parts, and it is not having enough detail in some other parts.)
   
   3) The problem picturs and wording are often confusing. (He should clear up some of the pictures and word. ie. some pictures are supposed to have a nozzle, but it doesn't, some picture's dimension is supposed to be as same as the others, but it doesn't look like it. We have to make the correct kind of ASSUMPTIONS(mistakes/unclarity) in order the get the solution)
   
   4)Not enough "cover page stuff", a lot of times i have to look for a certain convertion/constant in order to complete the problem.
   
   5) WE are ASSUMED to know all the convertion from all the different kind of unit system. (ie. WHAT is degree R, and how do you convert it to degree C? How do you convert Btu to another system?)(He needs to have more explaination on that.
   
   That is the stuff i hate about this book so far.I think this book has some great materials, but he just need to present it better! By considering this is my first fluid book, i don't know what is in the others, so i'm not giving it a one instead.



2. This book goes a long way to describe the most simple concepts in a confusing way. I ended up learning from a different text book. If your university uses this book, it is probably a good idea to take this course somewhere else. This book assumes that you have already taken dynamics and thermodynamics! The problems are not clearly written, so trying to understand the question is often more time consuming than finding the solution.



3. This textbook, is horribly written. It is does not explain concepts and examples in a sequential manner. Would not recommend this book for understanding fluid mechanics.



4. I am only half way through the book so far, however I have noticed from other reviews that many students do not like this book.
   
   In my opinion, I find the book to be very enjoyable to both read and study from. It provides concise derivations for Reynolds Transport Theorem, Bernoulli's Equation, Navier-Stokes Equations and others that are necessary to understand fluid mechanics. The example problems are useful and well laid out. What some students may not like is that the book tends to take a more long winded approach to solving certain problems. However that approach is the proper one when solving more complex fluid mechanic problems.



5. I think this is a decent book to learn fluid mechanics concepts from. There are many examples in the book and it doesn't make the subject as daunting as some other textbooks can make it. I don't really think it was particularly necessary for portions of the textbook to be placed in a CD since I eventually printed out most of the material when I was studying that particular section.

5 comments about 507 Mechanical Movements: Mechanisms and Devices (Dover Science Books).

1. well... it is what it says it is. I was under-whelmed. This is just a reprinting of old old patent drawings with very incomplete descriptions of the mechanisms described. In fact all of this is duplicated in "1800 Mechanical Movements Devices and Appliances" down to the word for word copy of the descriptions.
   Most of the diagrams are self explanatory; of those that aren't, very brief 1902 style descriptions which are probably abridged versions of the original patent application are only a little helpful. The rest (about 15 percent) still don't make sense.
   I was disappointed and I only paid 5 dollars for it.



2. This is a great collection of mechanisms for the curious. There is no kinematic, static or dynamic analysis; nor is it a source book for contemporary mechanism design. Instead there is an inspiring collection of mechanical innovation from the boom era of mechanical design.
   
   I have seen far, far, larger collections (well over 5,000 items) in academic treatises and a modern mechanism sourcebook may be more useful to the busy mechanical inventor - but there is still a lot of value in having this gem to hand.
   
   Dover has again produced a clear (though small) and robust paperback version of an old classic at a very attractive price.



3. What more can be said about this essential book for all gizmologists? This is a great book just to get the brain working.



4. The illustrations are well done, many of the mechanisms are repeated. The descriptions are dated. All in all, I would not buy this book again.



5. Keep in mind that this book 1) is paperback, 2) measures 6 1/4 inches wide by 7 1/8 inches tall, and 3) most every illustration is less than 2" square. All the illustrations are clear - printed in a grid on the left handside with a SHORT explanation of what it does on the right. The movements are described, but a lot of them leave me wondering what the heck you'd use them for in the real world. Certainly not as detailed of a book as I was expecting, but a nice LITTLE reference. On with a search for something more detailed!

5 comments about Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics and Dynamics.

1. I was forced into purchasing this group of books for my university engineering program as all of the homework problems required were straight from this book.

   Additionally, the books were packaged with schaums problem sets that were particularly useless (schaums outlines are usually excellent, but their problem sets did not contain all of the detail and had nothing extra to offer over Beer and Johnston's textbook) and therefore a waste of my money.

   With that said, the only redeeming value of this book is the sheer number of exercises and answers (numerical answers with no explanation, however).

   The writing quality suffers what english majors call overuse of passive voice. Overuse of the words "is," "will," "are," etc. characterize this style. With the lack of acting verbs in sentences, the book effectively numbs the mind and puts the reader to sleep. This passive use of verbage also serves to take the emphasis off of the important parts of sentences.

   Aside from stylistic issues with the english language, the book also suffers from a lack of vision. The authors did not provide a good methodology to approaching problems at all. They hint at it, by telling the student to draw pictures. However, in examples, the authors jump from one step to the next without much explanation of how a person would discover the techniques themselves. This makes the homework problems particularly difficult when a completely different approach than the one in the examples is required.

   There are also derivation and explanation issues. For instance, in the handling of the precession of free bodies (this example sticks out in particular), the author provides a diagram and some equations. However, students cannot precede merely from what the author explained. The student, in order to approach the problems, must assume the validity of the vector diagrams and their relationships, along with equations, seperately. The diagrams and equations WERE NOT UNIFIED in the discussion. This gives the impression that the authors seperately wrote different parts of the book, and later simply pasted the pieces together without any greater plan.

   I would not recommend these books as something colleges should use.




2. Took awile to get here and they put a huge sticker on the front and back that had the website info on it. I didn't pay them so they could use my book as free advertising. That made me angry, but other than that and a few wrinkled pages, it's a good book.



3. This is really a great book in a hard to grasp subject.It is easy to follow ,has a lot of excellent sample problems and examples ,student-friendly and it is ideal for selfstudy.



4. Easy to understand with ample well-explained examples to help follow the subject. Great book overall!



5. took forever to come, and in fairly bad condition tho it said was acceptable it was fairly close