Choice Review

This is a splendid book on stress analysis and structural mechanics in the Timoshenko-Hoff tradition. The treatment throughout is grounded on the principle of conservation of energy just as N.J. Hoff's Analysis of Structures (1956) was based entirely on the principle of virtual work. The range of topics and problems considered is that covered in books on advanced strength of materials and elementary structural mechanics, and then some. The orientation of this volume is somewhat more toward the problems of machine design than is common in books in the areas covered. Still, there is no lack of material for a course directed toward civil engineers. The major plus of this work is its emphasis on the physics of the problems considered. Surprisingly, for a 1986 publication it makes no mention of modern computational methods. An instructor might wish to use the book as the text in a course and provide supplementary material on computational methods. Alternatively, the book might be used as a reference source for a course based on computational methods. In any event, this fine book belongs in all academic and industrial libraries and on the bookshelves of teachers of strength of materials, machine design, and structural mechanics.-M. Levinson, University of Maine at Orono