Customer Reviews

Rocket Propulsion Elements, 7th Edition

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For more than 30 years this superb book has been the basic text for tens of thousands of rocket scientists, astronauts, engineers, and amateur scientists alike. It is universally recognized as the "Bible" of rocket propulsion theory and practice, and remains the fundamental and basic text for everyone seriously engaged in this complex field of research and development.

Sutton's book should be the very first purchased for anyone who wants to learn and understand the ins and outs of both solid and liquid-fuel rocket propulsion. No other book even comes close.

It is always a pleasure to find a comprehensive overview of a field that can be understood by a non-specialist. I cannot testify as to how useful Rocket Propulsion Elements would be to an aerospace engineer, but for a technically inclined amateur like me it is a wonderful book. One of the things I like best about it is that it mixes theory with practical examples. It give a clear idea not only of the principles of rocket propulsion ,but also of the current state of the art. I was expecting this for the field of chemical rocketry, but I was delighted to find explanations of more obscure technologies, such as electric rocket of various types. I only wish that there were books this good in every field.

It is hard to believe that a technical book could keep me up until 2 in the morning, but this one sure did. The basic principles of rocket science are not at all confusing, nor are they incomprehensible, when presented in this manner. The authors really want to teach, not just show off their knowledge, and this book has reached that goal. I actually understand what the rocket scientist is doing, what they are up against, and why it takes multitudes of experiments, trials, and special materials to take a payload to space. The math is basic, yet encompassing, and anyone with a high school education can understand "THE" esoteric subject of our times. Authors Biblarz and Sutton are brilliant educators.

The seventh edition of this book is absolutely amazing!!! It presents the material in a clear and concise manner without losing the reader. This book provides up to date information about every type of rocket propulsion system from solids and liquids, to hybrids and exotics. It also includes sections on design and trade studies for different systems. Of particular interest to me were the sections on hybrid propulsion and liquid engine injector design. This book is highly recommended to anyone interested in rocket propulsion design and analysis! 5 stars indeed!!!!!

This is the definitive "text book" for the subject of rocket propulsion. Its coverage of the subject is both broad and detailed. Probably a third of the book can be understood with no more than high school level physics and mathematics. The remainder requires some exposure to undergraduate level mechanical engineering, mathematics and physics, e.g. integral calculus, thermodynamics, etc. This book is in its 7th edition and it shows. The authors have a clean, precise, almost mechanical writing style that you would expect in a highly evolved technical work of this type. I do have one minor bone to pick with this book. The authors have clearly spent their lives doing rocketry in the mega million dollar world of NASA, General Dynamics, etc. Most of the graphs and diagrams emphasis big, big, rockets, e.g. graphs focusing on thrust chambers that operate at 5000 p.s.i. I suspect that most readers are either university students or individuals involved in experimental rocketry. Those that fall into the later category might benefit from better coverage of rocketry done with less exotic materials, fuels, and operating parameters. That minor weakness aside, this book covers in its 700 or so pages, everything that has been learned in the field of rocketry in the last 70 years and it presents this material at a fairly detailed technical level. It is therefore the book against which all others in the field will be judged.

The readability of this book makes it a good investment for aspiring rocket engineers.

Just be aware that this edition has a lot of typographical errors. Out of the few chapters for which I've checked the math (2, 3, and 11), I found typos/errors in examples 2-2, 2-3, and 11-3, typos in equations 3-16, 3-26, and two incorrect references to past equations on page 49.

Perhaps this is average for three chapters in a technical book, but with all the positive reviews of the 7th edition I thought I'd point out a reason to find an earlier (or wait for a later) edition.

I started work with a rocket design group fresh out of a MS in mechanical engineering. One of the first things everybody told me was to pick up a copy of Sutton. It's a good thing I did, because I immediately started referring to it for just about every project I worked. After just a few months it became a dog eared, marked, and well used reference.

It's a few years later now, and I don't work with rockets full time any more. I've forgotten enough of the details that today when I was explaining a bit of rocketry to a coworker, out came Sutton again. It's still a great book.

a great book on the engineering of rocket systems. not only is it beneficial to those on a novice level, but has a great deal of advanced theories and applications for the more learned reader. if you are wanting to learn more about propulsion fundamentals or needing a respected reference book, then this book will prove to be an invaluable addition to your technical library. to all my aerospace friends, in thrust we trust.

This review is specifically for the kindle version. This is currently my textbook for my Master's course, so I was initially delighted that the book was offered in kindle format. My gripe is not even that some of the illustrations and tables are extremely difficult if not impossible to read - that I expected. However, the kindle edition has a high amount of typos that are not present in the print versions of the book. The worst cases are the homework problems at the end of each section, where the kindle version has incorrect values or required information is simply missing. Sometimes equations are missing vital pieces, like square root symbols and exponents. I only know this because I'm taking the class with a friend who bought the print version of the book. If I went purely off of the kindle text, I'd be failing this class! Also, since all the tables and equations are input as images, the benefit of the kindle search function is useless. The book is not designed for linear reading, and the extremely long lag in searching, highlighting, and moving back and forth between different sections is very frustrating. Finally, the price for this kindle book is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. For the terrible quality of the conversion, they charge just $10 less than a brand-new, hardcover version. You can get a used copy for at least $15 cheaper than this bordering-in-useless copy. Bottom-line: go with the print version.

This is the best book on rocket propulsion that I have seen. The reading is smooth and the jargon is kept to a simple amount to understand with out being a rocket scientist. Diagrams and charts are excellent in explaining what the author is talking about. Author keeps it simple for all!!