Customer Reviews

Physical Hydrology (2nd Edition)

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

 

 

Anyone that thinks hydrology is just "water flow" is wrong! This book introduces the reader to many different concepts and explains them from *both* a mathematical and physical perspective. Hydrology is not just water...it is soil, snow, evaporation, etc...you get the idea.

In the first edition of his book (I have the old one), Dingman gives you all the tips and tricks that real-world hydrologists use and *explains* them. Keep in mind, however--this topic is very math intensive and if you are weak on algebra, hydrology--and this book in particular--could be difficult to follow. Some equations have more than a dozen variables...watch out!

I found the questions at the end of each chapter to be reasonably good, but I would like more thought questions. Sure, once you get the hang of it, anyone can crunch numbers to determine rainfall or snowmelt or whatever. But if you want to understand how/why things happen, you'll have to read the chapters--there is no way to gauge that aspect of learning.

As a meteorologist, I sometimes find myself referring to *this* book instead of my other textbooks--it is laid out well and I can quickly find what I need, when I need it. All in all, this is a very good book that I'll refer to again and again.

I found the book extremely useful, not only as a text book, but as a reference. This book gives a good history of hydrology, what physical hydrology is, and the technical content ranges from basic to quite advanced. A good range of expertise levels, so it can be used by people at different stages of their career. Some very practical problems and solutions are highlighted in each chapter, in the form of boxes, which make them stand out. There are a number of appendices, which give details of derivations, tables of constants, and other useful facts. Overall, this is one of those books I'll keep on my shelf and reach for, for basic equations to specific methods of solution.

I'll echo others when I say first that this books has a lot of great information. However, it's difficult to actually learn from. It's very equation-based, which is good, but the equations are often simply presented without any discussion. The ambiguity of units is frustrating, and it's difficult to tell whether an equation has a typo or not. I really think it could be better organised. For my course, I ended up getting other textbooks on hydrology from the library and generally avoiding "Physical Hydrology."

There is a lot of good information packed into this book but as a student, I have found it a very frustrating textbook to use. The reader is bombarded with equations without a good general overview first. A glossary would also be helpful. The units of many equations are left out. This is confusing since for many empirical equations, the units cannot be derived from dimensional analysis. Finally, like many hydrology textbooks, there are literally hundreds of Greek symbols used throughout. Without any glossary or table of symbols used in each chapter, it is very difficult to go back and find the original definition and derivation, should I forget what one of the symbols stands for.

I'm currently a student using this book in a 400-level hydrology course. This is quite possibly the worst textbook I have encountered in my academic career. It somehow manages to make even simple material that I already kind of know very difficult to understand. The writing style is very pompous and generally otherwise inaccessible. Variables used in equations are either not well-defined or used inconsistently. Examples, for lack of a better word, suck. Figures are confusing rendered. Organization is terrible.

All in all, a fairly good textbook example of how not to write a textbook.

Physical Hydrology is okay. It was required for one of my classes, but I honestly did not use it very much except for when it came to homework problems. The text was difficult to read and understand at times (especially for me since I'm just an undergrad), and like others mentioned, the equations could have used further discussion rather than just listing the variables. It's not my favorite book but I am keeping it as a possible reference in the future. If you're looking at this book for pure pleasure or reference, I'd suggest looking at something a little easier to read.

This book is amazing. It helps me to learn the hydrology process from both global and regional viewpoints. It is definitely a foundation textbook for my research works on hydrology data mining.

The CD is attached to the CD cover in the back of the book, there is no way to rip the CD out.
The book is nice.

I am using this book as a course text in one course at grad school. In particular, I was impressed with the delivery quickly and and good quality of book.

At any rate, I am really satisfied with book and seller.