2 comments about Spinning Flight: Dynamics of Frisbees, Boomerangs, Samaras, and Skipping Stones.

1. (I am the author - I think the book is not half bad - but let me quote from a recent
   review of the book by H. K. Moffatt {whom I do not know} in Nature magazine (Vol.444,
   14 Dec 2006 p.820):
   'In his fascinating book Spinning Flight, Ralph Lorenz provides a rich feast of examples
   of such spinning bodies, some occurring naturally, some contrived for pleasure or for a
   practical purpose, some exotic..........Lorenz covers these phenomena and their various
   manifestations with great skill and economy of exposition, whetting the appetite for the
   more detailed treatments that he cites in an extensive list of references, many quite recent...
   The book is well organized....there may be something for every one within its attractively
   designed cover



2. Spinning Flight is for the reader who is curious about spinning and flying things. Some may wonder why do skipping stones veer to the right, why does a Frisbee veer to the left at the end of its flight, why do golf balls have dimples, how does a boomerang work. Others may be interested in spin stabilization of bullets, bombs, rockets. Still others will be fascinated by the role of spin in spaceflight, the landing of probes on distant bodies or by what spin can tell about the formation and life story of asteroids and comets. Lorenz uses a minimum of vector mechanics and equations to explain these phenomena and provides many illustrations based on cleverly instrumented flight experiments. Next time you skip a stone, you will think of it as a rewarding experiment not just an idle pleasure.

1 comments about Micromechanics of Defects in Solids (Mechanics of Elastic and Inelastic Solids).

1. This book remains a classic in the of field of dislocation dynamics. This is one of the very few textbooks available that deals with kinetic and dynamics of dislocations in a lucid way. The best thing about the book is its numerous illustrations to put across the concepts. This is extremely helpful in understanding the geometry and interactions these complex beasts, dislocations.

   The subject is introduced smoothly, starting from review of elastic behaviour and crystal plasticity in a characteristic, lucid manner. Crystal plasticity is introduced in continuum mechanics approach and no use of dislocation concept is used till then. One chapter is devoted exclusively for the geometry of dislocation. The emphasis is on conveying the concepts and there are no complicated derivations for all the special cases. That makes it all the more better. Next few chapters are devoted to the kinematics and dynamics of dislocations, wherein the attention is divided between the dynamics of single dislocation and evolution of collection of dislocation. Being a leading figure in this subject, most of the results in these chapters are Author's own - so he is able present it very clearly. Eventhough first edition of this book came out (1966??) it is still as resourceful as a book published this year.

1 comments about Optical Rheometry of Complex Fluids (Topics in Chemical Engineering).

1. The book, perhaps the only one of its kind in this field, presents the theory of optical rheometry or rheo-optics in its most savage mathematical, logical, comprehensive and self-contained form. The chapters progress through series of equations, and the challenging journey through these is enlightening. The book discusses polarization, dichroism, scattering and optical instrumentation to elucidiate the physics involved in describing a range of complex fluid dynamics. This is an advanced text, useful for researchers and students determined to understand complex fluid dynamics and optical methods that allow watching structure/dynamics under imposed external fields. It is perhaps a good idea to read the last chapter on case studies and applications before indulging in the first nine, and re-read the chapter 10 with all theory read and understood.

No comments about Improving Efficiency and Reliability in Water Distribution Systems (Water Science and Technology Library).

2 comments about Engineering Solid Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications.

1. I'm using this book to study for my Ph.D. candidacy exam, and it's extremely useful. It definitely is more theoretical, with general proofs, etc., mainly focusing on elasticity, with some plasticity and fracture mechanics. I would not recommend this book for a civil engineer (you might check out Craig, Mechanics of Materials, for a good intro beam book).

   The one huge beef I have with this book is the insane amount of typos in it! There's about 1 per page, which is a serious problem. It's a shame, because it otherwise is well done, but hard to trust because of the amount of minor typos that should have been picked up in proofreading. I wonder if the authors were in a hurry, for some reason, to get this one out?




2. This book provide some missing information from previous books.
   A quick review on various topics may be the best advantage in this book.

1 comments about Elements of Continuum Mechanics (Aiaa Education Series).

1. Looking through this book that is almost the same price as a reprint of Malvern's classic text on the subject, but contains much less explanation and depth, I do not see the point of using this text. The derivations are almost straight copies out of Malvern, including the irritating notation conventions.
   
   What this book has that Malvern does not is more worked example problems in some instances. Malvern however, has better descriptions and explanations of what is actually taking place with the theories involved. This book could be used to teach an undergraduate course on continuum mechanics, but I haven't heard of such a course, and to be honest I would prefer a reprinted hardback of Malvern. If you have the option, I would recommend taking a good look at both books before deciding which one suits you better.

1 comments about Fluid Mechanics & Dynamics Problem Solver (Problem Solvers).

1. The book has a rather caustic introduction stating that other fluid mechanics books fail to properly teach the subject.

   Extensive use of wierd units such as slugs/ft3 make rather simple problems difficult. Many problems are reduced to exercises in unit manipulation.

   No references for equations or tables are given to enable further study on a particular subject.

   Lack of symbol definitions complicate reolution of problems.

1 comments about Interfacial Transport Phenomena.

1. I have most of the books written by J. Slattery. This book follows a very similar theme. You are expected to have a strong background in the area, maybe from reading his previous books? I would not recommend this book if you are looking for general information about transport phenomena.

No comments about Lattice Methods for Quantum Chromodynamics.

3 comments about Riemann Solvers and Numerical Methods for Fluid Dynamics: A Practical Introduction.

1. By far the best computational fluid dynamics text I have come across during my thesis research! The author presents modern shock-capturing numerical methods for solving the time-dependent hyperbolic conservation laws in multiple dimensions with exceptional clarity. Most of the text focuses on Godunov methods and is littered with practical applications and discussions for those with a limited background in CFD. In addition, Toro presents a simpler interpretation of his WAF method. In terms of readability, I found this book to be far superior. It will undoubtedly become as indispensible in the CFD field as those by Fletcher, Hirsch and LeVeque!



2. Have to agree with Mark, this book is quite superb. Professor Toro does a superb job - it took me from knowing nothing about shock capture to being able to write my own high resolution code in about six months. Coupled with the Numerica software it is an invaluable tool for learning about compressible flow.



3. This is the book you want if you need to solve real compressible flow problems. It covers all the basics plus there's tons of advanced materials. I especially like the fact that there are numerous detailed examples and coding templates. In addition, the book contains a very extensive reference, allowing the reader to go back to the orginal papers.