Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Mass and Heat Transfer: Principles of Analysis and Design

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I am a Chemical Engineering senior at a major university. My professor forced middleman down our throats both for fluid dynamics and Mass and Heat transfer(double dose of Middleman..hehe..:).However he was a good teacher and pretty much derived everything .I got a B in the class and I am only an average math student. The book taught me alot and I am glad that I perservered ,particularly it made me appreciate diffQ's and how they are applied to design ,in Chem E. I have to admit this book is not meant for self study, you have to read it like 3 times to get it ,it's kind of a test of how bad you want to be a Chem E. Some parts are like advanced hieroglyphics. some of the end of chapter problems are insane(Middleman must have been tipsy:)). Despite everything I honestly feel it's a very good solid book well written for the most part and intended for a mature audience( like any serious ChemE's:). It is also meant to teach you how to think in terms of design and I am grateful for that. If you want to learn how to design air freshners:)and how to set expiration dates on bread and candy :) etc you have to suck it in and get through this book/Course. Maybe it wouldnt be so bad if students had access to answers to some of the end of chapter problems. I know it is engineering not physics but cut us some slack Middleman. Also if you really want to be a Chem E quit whinning and just struggle through the book nothing comes easy ,many have gone before you and survived. This book is not that bad. I recommend it to all who are not faint hearted.You dont have to be a math whiz to grasp the concepts ,if you look beyond the arcane math and if you dont get bogged down by the algebra, there lies beneath it a beautiful subject that will enhance your understanding of Calculus and Diffq's and open your mind to real engineering and its applications.
Good luck if you have to take this book and by the way pick up some No-Doze, before the semester begins , you will definitely need that.
P.S It also made me realise how worthless my diffQ. teacher was.
Greg

This book is by far the best INTRO text to transport phenomena from the perspective of a chemical engineer.
Of course, a student must be equipped with proper math background (such as BASIC differential equations, vectors, etc). Middleman presents the material by giving proper mathematical derivation and many realistic applications. This book should be easy to follow as opposed to BSL that requires higher level of math. Students that complain about the book should realize that they need to review simple calculus.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that there are notoriously few books on heat and mass transfer which are not heavy on mathematics -- which has to do with the subject! However, Middleman's book stands out in another respect: it tries to balance the motivation behind the maths with the mathematical derivations themselves and is therefore much more self-contained than many others. Personally, I found the use of non-SI units annoying, but that may not be a problem for US readers.

This book is an excellent reference for heat and mass transfer for 3rd chem eng. Yes, there is a bit of math, but if you find math at this level intimidating then perhaps you'd better rethink your career path (if that is not too much work as well! The book contains numerous worked examples - a good "learn by doing" exercise. I recommend it and will most likely adopt it as my principle text for teaching HMT.

PLEASE, if you are a professor considering the use of this book, STOP and reconsider. This book is absolutely awful. Middleman writes this book for the Calculus and Differential Equations expert. If there was a class you EVER took, Middleman expects you to remember every single thing about it. Important derivations are left as homework, with utterly insufficient preparation in the text. Organization is awful. Notation is about as consistent as the weather. Important results are completely buried within long, unintelligable and, from time to time, erroneous derivations. The reader is left unaware of what equations and concepts are important. If you are a student, do NOT take a course using this book. I challenge a student to come forth with a good review for this book. It simply is not possible... Stanley Middleman should be ashamed for beinging into existence something that ADDS to the complexity and inapproachability of Heat and Mass transfer. He does his colleages and area of study a disservice.

I used this book as a text in a college heat and mass transfer and despite an overall 3.9 gpa, I managed to fail this class. The book is completely unclear and utterly impossible to decipher. Stay away from this book.

This book makes people want to quit undergraduate chemical engineering at my school. I'd rather do slave work in a mineshaft than to try to read this dry and abstruse book again! What a waste of people's lives when professors force their students to try to learn from this book. The subject matter itself should be challenging part and not the presentation. You know, I think when authors spent too many years using the concepts, they feel like what is obvious to them is good enough for any novice to understand. I felt like I had to translate heiroglyphics and learn fluid dynamics at the same time. Of course, I don't mean to be so depressing and leave anyone hanging. A good book like Fundamentals of Heat&Mass Transfer should be like a day at disneyland compared to this book. Schaum's outlines can be quite nice too. Good luck!

I think it's not an introduction but messy complexd.
This book require too much mathmatical background in despite of
an introduction.
I don't want to recommand this book to beginner