I am appalled at the cost of this book and the number of editions it has gone through and not had the errors corrected!

I've reviewd 3 additional texts while in this course of study and found them to be superior in content and quality of explanation. I would not recommend this text to instructors.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:


A case study in textbooks printed only to enrich the publishers  May 03, 2007 By Elfan
I should preface this by saying that I am not a mechanical engineer. There may be important conventions for mechanical engineers illustrated in this book, but that I would not know.

It is better to think of this book not as a textbook but as a set of problems with some solutions. The "text" of this textbook is so poorly written that it is better treated as pointers to sections of your math or physics books you may need to review. The material and problems is not difficult, just poorly explained.

The author is sloppy with notation throughout the book, particularly the section on dynamics. It is not unusual for new notation to be introduced -- unexplained -- in an example or problem.

On that point, most books of this type contain answers to the odd numbered problems. This book is no different (and contains answers to some even ones as well) but is particularly fanatical about keeping this section's page count down. It is common for textbooks to avoid printing a graph for a problem that requires one and instead just list the equation. This book takes that one step farther and sometimes omits the equation in favor of a handful of arbitrary points. This is particularly ridiculous because (like most recent textbooks) the "text" is obstructed by an irrelevant parade of pictures and colored boxes (complete with drop shadows!).

My understand is that this series is infamous for containing many errors. The 9th edition had an egregious error in the first chapter on the SI system, for example. I noticed few outright errors (and on a second look most of those were just sloppiness) in this edition, but be warned.

Between the poor text, gratuitous drop-shadows, and general lack of care for the reader this book looks like it was printed for no reason other than killing the secondary market for the 10th edition.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:


Needs better discussion  Nov 26, 2000
This book is very well illustrated and has answers to problems ( numbers only) at the end of the book. Several examples are worked out in each section, a definate plus. As the book progresses, these sample problems increasingly fail to represent the problems in the section. The discussion are poor. Material is presented in short,brief, nearly bulleted lists. Little attempt at theoretical expansion is made, and then more problems are thrown at you. For the average student who really doesn't care about learning only getting grade, this book will work out fine. If you are more serious about learning, look for another book. I am. The examples and illustrations alone are worth buying the book if you can find a used copy at low cost somewhere.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Good Book, Overpriced  Nov 28, 1999
First off, this book is definately overpriced. Putting that aside, it is a very good book on the subject and I've learned a lot from it. The only thing I would like to see is a solutions manual, because in many chapters three or four examples problems are worked out, and these are of great help.

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:


One of the worst textbooks I've used.  May 05, 2005 By David R. Eldredge
I'm an engineering student currently going to school in Utah. This book is one of the worst I've used. The sections give hardly any explantation on the subjects they are trying to teach. The examples have hardly any relevancy to the problems. Some of the equations in the front cover are wrong. And the answers in the back of the book are wrong quite often.

My biggest complaint is with the actual sections. They do little more than offer proofs for the equations that go with the new material, then send you on your merry way. All fine and dandy, but I'd like a little more explanation given, such as when I can't use an equation given some circumstances. I've wasted many, many hours on problems because the equations I've used were the wrong ones to use.

If you have to use this book, get the solutions manual. It will save you a lot of time and stress.

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