Customer Reviews

Materials 3e North American Edition w/Online Testing: Materials: Engineering, Science, Processing and Design

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

 

 

Dry, awkward formatting, curious layout, many poorly explained diagrams with very small print on them, and habitually presents equations without clearly explaining what all the terms in the equations mean or what the equation is called. A textbook should be at least sort of useful without having a professor physically at your elbow to explain what is meant by everything in it. Don't even think about skipping class, no matter how sick you are, if this is what you'll have to try to catch up with.

Cons:
Engineers expect a text to distill material into concise forms. This textbook, full of rudimentary figures and unclear equations, couldn't be more indirect. The added lack of applied examples and end of chapter problems make this text useless.

Pros:
The book trumpets the CES software, and the software is good.

Conclusion:
The book is not a vehicle of learning, but is instead likely a vehicle for selling the CES software. Superficially, it seems like Granta Incorporated, maker of CES, teamed up with esteemed author Ashby to publish a worthless tome advancing its product! If your teacher doesn't teach this material well, and all you have is this text, run away.

This book contains one of the most original approaches to materials science in a generation. Written not for the expert materials scientist but for the general engineering student who needs to learn to work with materials it has a unique approach. Combined with the Cambridge Engineering Selector software this makes an unbeatable and highly innovative approach to the field of materials science education.
As a lecturer in the field I highly recommend this book.

This book is pointless common sense and there are no examples of the problems they ask you to solve at the end of the chapters. Plus there were many misspellings, bad grammar, and poorly written ambiguous questions.

It's a great book that came to me in good condition. It is the older version of the book, but it is significantly cheaper and basically the exact same book (a few problems different).

It is a shame that such a truly wonderful mind (the well respected Dr. Ashby) would produce such a pointless, miserable book. The book is lack-luster, at best, and provides little more than common-sense knowledge.

Chapters are nothing more than a long string of either pointless or convoluted information about the field of materials science and far too many cheeky British jokes/puns that are absolutely insulting in a college-level book (from my prospective: the author seems to be poking fun at the reader's supposed "sub-sophomoric" knowledge of his field).

If possible, do not buy this book! If your class mandates purchasing this book consider switching classes or taking the required class at another university - you will save yourself a fair amount of time and money.

This book was in excellent condition, better than stated on site. It was shipped quickly and in secure packaging. Will be ordering from this company again! Excellent service and a great price!