Customer Reviews

History of Strength of Materials (Dover Civil and Mechanical Engineering)

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This book is an excellent addition to the library. It's fascinating to read about all those great pioneers in mechanics, like Galileo,Prandtl,(he was also a great scientist in hydrodynamics and boundary layer theory) Boussinesq, Foppl and others. It's also interesting to know where the various assumptions we use today come from. (Transverse Shear deformation effects etc.,). The origin of beautiful concepts like Castigliano's theorem, minimum complementary energy theorem, betti maxwell reciprocity theorem etc are also given. Will make a very good reading for a weekend, if you are interested in mechanics of materials.

This is a very good book. if you are a first or second year student studying any engineering(especialy Mechanics and Civil Eng.), You'd better it now. It helps you to understand the foundation theorem of mechanics especialy in elasticity. It's very helpful if you read it with Timoshenko and Gere's "Mechanics of materials"

This book is a collection of about 300 vignettes in the history of Strength of Materials. If this topic interests you, there is a wealth of information within this book. I gained a much better understanding of energy methods through reading their history in this book.

The proviso: This isn't an easy read, especially if you don't have an abiding fascination with the subject. If you don't know anything about strength of materials, this is not a book with which to teach yourself.

Stephen P. Timoshenko wrote the seminal strength of materials textbooks used in 1920 through the 1980's and probably well beyond. For the most part, these books used the classic approach (as opposed to ones using matrix algebra) and were used in most higher-level undergraduate and graduate courses in the strength of materials. It is thus quite fitting that this master of the subject should also write a comprehensive history of the subject. This history starts with Galileo and then goes on to the work of Bernoulli, Euler, Legrange, Coulomb, Navier, Poncelet, and Young (all in the first 100 pages). He then moves on to the mid 19th century with the work of such giants as Cauchy, Poisson, Lame, Clapeyron, Saint-Venant and Maxwell. The book covers everything up to 1950's. The theory of elasticity is discussed as are the evolution of railway engineering and structures in general. This is not a book for those just interested in history as it contains a lot of mathematics and theoretical development. It is a good book for those with the right background (civil, mechanical and structural engineers and physicists interested in mechanics), who want to know the history of the strength of materials.

This is a must-read for any solid mechanician. Timoshenko gives a fascinating overview of the history of strength of materials and related fields with great prose and occasional technical discussion. The price is perfect--get this on your shelf.

This is a really fantastic book. I am a third into it and I am already in love.

Provided you have already taken a course in stregth/mechanics of materials, elasticity theory, this book gives a good perspective of the subject. It is fun taking the wrong assumptions earlier scientists took and and working out what the implications of those assumptions would be and comparing that to what we now know.

The one feature which can be irritating is how Timosehnko quotes French or German statements and does not bother to give an English translation. Oh, figures are also poorly labelled, difficult to match with the text. Even then, the book is awesome!

This book contains a very good review of the strength of materials from Da Vinci work, to the half of the XX century. There are several good stories, including the creation of the Mohr circle, the discovery of mechanical properties of materials, elastic line, energy theorems, the problem of the bending of beans, warping, truss bridges, and so on.
The book is highly recommended for who already knows the theory of structures and elasticity, and wants to know how was the whole development of this amazing subject.

I bought this book because it was cheap, but seemed semi-interesting; I didn't think I would ever pick it up. When I did open it I found it fascinating. There are many proofs and theory, but it is not too difficult. I'm not finished it, but I recommend this book to anyone with a background in mechanics.

If you are not interested in civil engineering than you would probably be disappointed with this great math history book.It covers all the great mechanical master-builders and mathematical thinkers over the last five hundred years.It spans the whole length of their contributions to the field of engineering concerning the strength,deformations,and disruptions of solid materials pertaining to architectural structures and industrial features.This book is invaluable to anyone interested in the basis of today's theorical equations,accomplishments of the respected mathematicians and their accepted applied scientific practises.

I receipt the book very quikly and in excelent conditios of use, as a new book.