Customer Reviews

Engineering Mechanics , Statics (Volume 1)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Of all the engineering courses I've taken as far - heck, of all the courses I've had, period - Meriam and Kraige's book on Statics has to be the worst. Though the book covers more material than any other Statics books I have seen, the actual content is terrible. The chapters aren't very long, and the explanations that are given usually are too vague or insufficient to truly understand what's going on. Also, there are usually only two or three examples given for every major topic covered; instead of intermingling examples within the chapter to clarify various subjects, they are placed them at the end of every section. Finally, most of the problems they provide for practice (and that end up being assigned for homework) are way too hard.

It also didn't help that my professor for this class was very bad. If you really want to study Statics, buy something else: I highly recommend "800 Solved Problems In Vector Mechanics, Vol. I: Statics" by Shelley (which is in the Schaum's Solved Problems series) or Hibbeler's "Engineering Mechanics: Statics." If all else fails, just check out another Statics book at the nearest library, because Meriam and Kraige's book STINKS.

This book is horrible. The examples are not helpful and there are only one or two per problem set. Also, the text is hard to follow. The only good part about the book is that it has some challenging and interesting problems. If I didn't have such an awesome professor, I wouldn't be able to do them based on the information in the book alone. This is a subject where good examples can make all the difference in understaning the material. The book simply doesn't get it done.

Engineering mechanics by Meriam and Kraige provides an excellent treatment of the subject matter, providing that one has all the necessary tools to handle this course. This means to have your geometry, algebra, trig., physics, and calculus internally wired. If not, one has to do the deep reviews, spending time and energy at grasping the basic concepts.

Also, if the discussion of the theory seems thin and problem sets seem unrepresentative, might I suggest another statics book by Riley and Sturges, 2nd ed. The exposition is expanded and provides clarity, the problem sets are a bit on the bland side, but the example sets provide reasonable representation to the problems in the book.

But, of all the problem sets of all statics books I have seen, Meriam and Kraige has the most realistic graphics and real world stuff. If you can internalize this book, your other mechanics courses like mech. of materials, dynamics, and fluids will move much more smoothly.

And, if a problem in the text appears impossible, it is always because of a misunderstanding of simpler concepts. It doesn't hurt being creative when problem solving. That is, to make additional sketches, draw diagrams, to QUESTION each and every part of the problem. To break apart or separate the problem into components and then mentally observing the parts under a "magnifying glass."

This book is very challenging, and it definitely helps if you have an instructor who has energy to be able to MAKE CLEAR any concepts whether in class, through paper handouts, in person, or even through email. If your instructor is lazy, you know where most of the energy of effort will have to come from.

Finally, if you has the drive, you can succeed. If your tank is low on gas, head for your next review station. Don't let any misunderstandings linger in your mind, siphoning your confidence, time, and energy. Sometimes, you gotta hike a mountain, going from review to review. You can do it.

The text is extremely dense and concise. The principles are developed almost axiomatically and assume the reader has fully digested earlier material. The concepts are developed in a highly abstract, mathematical way. This makes the text an extremely useful reference once you are familiar with the material, but it is quite difficult for students new to the material. The instructor has to work hard to expand and develop the conceptual material.

There are a number of worked examples with annotations explaning the solution. I found these examples quite helpful, however, there is not any material specifically focussed on problem solving skills.

The strength of this book is its extensive collection of excellent problems illustrated by easy-to-understand color figures. The problems draw on a wide range of real-world examples. Their concrete nature helps makes a Statics course seem relevant and interesting. The quality and scope of the problems easily exceeds that of most other texts. Many of the problems require the student to first figure out what they're being asked to calculate, an important real-world aspect of problem solving. One drawback is that a number of problems depend on fairly tricky geometrical reasoning, which tends to obscure the statics skills being practiced. Finally, there isn't any real attempt to introduce the computer to solving statics problems. As a consequence, there are no problems asking for judgements -- questions such as "at what angle is the force in the bar the least?" Similarly, the large number of simultaneous equations to be solved in some problems could be done more easily on the computer. However, instructors may prefer that students first become proficient solving the problems by hand before making computer-based solutions.

Overall, the problems make this a good text for an instructor to use, but they will have to work hard to help the students learn the concepts and problem solving skills needed to be successfull.

The content of the chapters' explanations before review problems is very light and skimpy on details to approaching the chapters' problems. The example problems given are inadequate and too basic/simple to prepare you for the more complicated review problems given.

The questions themselves are adequate for exam preparation, especially the harder examples. However, if you are relying on the text of the chapters themselves to explain and illustrate to you how to approach the review problems, you will have trouble.

In conclusion, I do not recommend using this book.
It seems to me that the authors' are primarily relying on the quality of your professor and TA's to explain to you concepts and methods of problem solving. Good Luck.

This book is pretty useless unless you already know how to do everything in it. Explanations are very lacking, at best. There are very few example problems, which are not related to the questions or even helpful. The only positive aspect of this book that I can think of is that it "could" be useful as a reference book.. If you are using this book to learn the material, I would strongly recommend finding another source.

I am a student attempting to learn statics for the first time. I prefer examples that start simple, working to a higher level of complexity, and don't combine too many theories at once. This book seems to move at a faster pace than allows me to really grasp the individual concepts as they are presented. Each topic needs more attention to individual details. I wish there were more sample problems, with direct refrences to the text as to how the theories were applied. I'm having a hard time laying down a mental foundation with so few examples. To its credit, it is in color, and illistrations are easy to read.

I bought this book for my statics class, it is very confusing. Important and non-important things are mixed together so you don't even know what you should focus on. Example problems take some time to figure out, because not all the details are shown. All of the 'actual' problems are harder than the examples, which means solving them will take some luck and a lot of hours. Only the odd numbers have answers shown. There is no solutions manual, so if your stuck, you will stay stuck. The good thing is, though, the back of the book includes a lot of formulas regarding statics so it can be easily used as a reference.

Of all the engineering books I've studied this has to be the worst. The examples are not clear and the explanations are even worse. This book is being used at the Oklahoma City Community College for a class in rigid body mechanics that is a "weed out class" for those who don't have the dedication to make a C or better. However, this book is great for frustrating students to the point of changing majors! It is completely sorry!

There are some bad books on the market, but this is by far the worst. Examples are too few and far between, and problems are almost impossible to decipher at times. I have also yet to meet a student who actually likes this book.