Customer Reviews

Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Excellent! Modern in tone despite '69(C). Malvern emphasizes concepts and initially limits math to Cartesian tensors. Ch 3 reviews mechanics of materials making the transition from under-grad trig and calculus to tensor representation of stress as point-valued. Ch 4 develops strain similarly, but the complication of deformation leads to curving coordinates;"Lagrangian"(fixed in space)leads to "Eulerian"(curving as the material deforms). Ch 5 returns to math superficially reviewing the Theorems of Green, Gauss, Stokes, connecting vector to Cartesian tensor notation. You'll need another source for the concepts. Fluids, Thermodynamics, glossed. Ch 6, "Constitutive Eqns" introduces elasticity, plasticity, viscosity et c. Ch 7 "Fluid Mech." presents many classes of non-Newtonian fluids. Ch 8 "Linearized Th. of Elast." reviews many concepts and methods of solution with little motivation. Appendix I "Tensors" is worth the price of the book! Co- vs. contra-variance presented well! An Aero Engr PhD candidate asked the difference said "... one has superscripts and the other subscripts."! Malvern shows how Basis-change coefficients logically lead to that notation! Appendix II "Orthogonal Curvilinear Coordinates" presents serious tensor analysis. I never read II. This is NOT a theoretical math book. It is a good bridge from the vectors and linear media of lower courses to the math and topics of the advanced ones. WELCOME TO THE NEXT LEVEL!

This is the best continuum mechanics introductory textbook one will ever find in many years to come. Most of the writers in continuum mechanics write with their feet. But Malvern write with his brain and patient. His concise, vivid explaination make one really appreciate what continuum mechanics is

It is really amazingly that a single person can write such an excellent book! Malvern's textbook on continuum mechanics is the most cited book in continuum mechanics and essential for everyone working on this field. Every sentence is very clear and the author has really a gift in explaining complex problems and bring them into the readers mind. Beside an excellent didactic, the book contains a wide range of topics (elasticity, plasticity, fluids,...) and its contents is very useful for practical applications and for people interested in finite elements (or other numerical techniques). Although written in 1969(!) this book is still up-to-date and should be recommended for first reading to everybody who wants to work on continuum mechanics.

This book dates back to 1969! Nonetheless -- probably because of that -- it remains fundamental. It remains great!
It is what it says: an INTRODUCTION to the mechanics of the continuous.
STOP! I said "mechanics of the continuous" -- "basic" here has a different meaning...
Yes, there are more advanced and more recent publications, but they are of no use unless you've read and understood the fundamentals. As always... ;)
Tensors, Stresses, Strains, Deformations, Constitutive Equations, Fluid Mechanics -- it's all there. The "solids" part is great: good language, good examples, etc. I've enjoyed it. I still am enjoying it.
I suspect the "fluid" part would be just as good, but I have not had the opportunity to study it, so I can't honestly say.

This is the best continuum mechanics introductory textbook one will ever find in many years to come. Most of the writers in continuum mechanics write with their feet. But Malvern write with his brain and patient. His concise, vivid explaination make one really appreciate what continuum mechanics is

As a mechanical engineering graduate student i think this book gives excellent description and explanations of continuum mechanics concepts. It also offers a good incite into plasticity. Many of the newer books site large sections of this book in order to get their point across. I think this book is a must have for anybody studying solid mechanics.

the famous book might be the best reference on this subject. It is a must for those of you who are concentrating on solid mechanics. It is most frequently cited by almost every author working in this field in his/her published books.

This book was fine for learning continuum mechanics, but it fell apart even with very careful treatment. It is irresponsible of them to sell it with such a fragile binding.

I am enrolled in a continuum mechanics class that is using this text as its main reference, and I am very glad for the excellent descriptions and derivations of results.

However, this book has two problems, one the fault of the publisher, the other of the author.

The fault with the publisher is simply that the book is a paperback and the binding in very poor. A hardback copy of the original book would be much sturdier. Instead it costs nearly $100 for a paperback with binding that disintegrates with minor use.

The fault of the author, which has a lot to do with how I learn material, is mainly a problem with notation. My biggest problem is in chapter 4 on strains and deformation, when future displacements represented by lowercase leters (x) and initial displacements by uppercase letters (X). This small lack of foresight by the author in choosing a notation with a more obvious difference between initial and final displacements has caused me pain in being able to follow what is happening in the book and in class, mainly because I have difficulty distinguishing between capital X's and lowercase x's when thrown in large equations. My recommendation would have been to use an entirely different character to represent initial conditions.

That said, it is still a very good book, with notation issues.

This is a good book in the subject for those of you taking their first course in continuum mechanics. However the approach is old and lacks of a good mathematical description, if you know a little bit of math there are better books than this in order to master this topic.