Mechanics of Materials with Tutorial CD [Hardcover]

Ferdinand P. Beer (Author), Jr., E. Russell Johnston (Author), John T. DeWolf (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072486732 | ISBN-13: 978-0072486735 | Publication Date: July 9, 2001 | Edition: 3

For the past forty years Beer and Johnston have been the uncontested leaders in the teaching of undergraduate engineering mechanics. Their careful presentation of content, unmatched levels of accuracy, and attention to detail have made their texts the standard for excellence. The revision of their classic Mechanics of Materials text features a new and updated design and art program; almost every homework problem is new or revised; and extensive content revisions and text reorganizations have been made. The multimedia supplement package includes an extensive strength of materials Interactive Tutorial (created by George Staab and Brooks Breeden of The Ohio State University) to provide students with additional help on key concepts, and a custom book website offers online resources for both instructors and students.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 3 edition (July 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072486732
• ISBN-13: 978-0072486735
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #957,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor answer key, February 8, 2006

By 

Michael Ploof (Flint, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mechanics of Materials (Hardcover)

The book explained the concepts of the subject well enough, but the number of typos in the problems and in the answer key led to many hours of frustration. I was often under the impression I was doing something wrong, only to find out the givens in a problem had incorrect prefixes, or some other error.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid exercise book, January 24, 2003

By 

Kevin Reza Aroom (College Park, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mechanics of Materials with Tutorial CD (Hardcover)

This book has a lot of interesting questions, but does not really delve into giving detailed procedures for getting answers. In the practice exercises, it skips a bunch of steps, assuming that the reader would already know what to do. At other points in the book, they painstakingly go through simple concepts. This was frustrating situation at times, which was exacerbated by having an incompetent professor. In the end, this book saved my hide by having good pictures and somewhat straightfoward approaches to mechanics problems. Also, the answers in the back of the book are a HUGE help. From them, you can usually identify a stupid mistake in your answer which could be the result of too many or too few zeros.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Another overpriced unnecessary edition ..., February 14, 2009

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calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mechanics of Materials (Hardcover)

...and STILL the answer key is wrong. From the Wikipedia:
"In materials science, the strength of a material refers to the material's ability to withstand an applied stress without failure. Yield strength refers to the point on the engineering stress-strain curve (as opposed to true stress-strain curve) beyond which the material begins deformation that cannot be reversed upon removal of the loading. Ultimate strength refers to the point on the engineering stress-strain curve corresponding to the maximum stress."

The last edition of this book was in 2005. What exactly in the above definition of this subject matter has changed in the last four years? Are our bridges in danger of breaking into pieces and floating into space? Or perhaps the authors have lost a great deal in the stock market and picking the pockets of students who had a great supply of affordable used fourth editions was the solution to the authors' problems?

I used this book in one of its much earlier incarnations (early 90's) for a class, and it was wonderfully written. The prose was clear, the examples to the point, and the illustrations were entirely adequate. However, that was the second or so edition, and the answer key was still wrong back then. I compared the fourth edition of this book to my stepson's fifth edition, and I have to say, what is the point? The sections have been rearranged as have the questions, and it appears some of the errors in previous editions are gone, but new ones have popped up, in some cases to problems that have been in this book for years but have just been put in a different place in the book.

If this book was about the underlying subject of material science aimed at seniors or graduate students, well that subject changes quickly. However, this is a book aimed at college sophomores, and the underlying calculations have not changed. I really loved studying this subject with my second edition. Since that edition was sufficient in 1992, I don't know why three more editions with no more room for improvement with the exception of the answer key which has still not been fixed is necessary for anything but the publisher's bottom line.