11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strength and Weakness, December 12, 2002
Strength:
1)Introduces Thermodynamic in a understandable manner
2)All homework problems are engineering-related, allowing better grasp of knowledge
3)Helpful example problems with great illustrations and step-by-step explanation
4)There's a chapter summary of equations and conception throughout the book. This is great for test preparation.
5)Vivid analogies to convey abstract concepts such as entrophy, enthalpy, and exergy.
Weakness:
1)The book mainly covers Classical rather than statistical thermodynamics, which mean students in chem, physics, and chem engineering will not be fully prepared for future courses in thermodynamics
Overall, this is very good way to start thermodynamics, especially if this is the first time encountering thermo. However, if to continue to take more thermo, this book focuses main on engineering rather than other disciplines.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Acceptable but Annoying, September 4, 2006
This review is from: Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach w/ Student Resources DVD (Hardcover)
This text is a fairly standard treatment of classical (macroscopic) thermodynamics. It is targeted specifically at students of mechanical engineering. Anyone going into some other engineering discipline that depends on thermo (e.g., chem eng) -- or into one of the hard sciences (physics, biophys, biochem, chemistry, etc.) -- will get very little value from this book. Its main focus seems to be on the use of the right formula to solve specific kinds of problems. ("Plug and chug.")
There are many annoying things about this book. Perhaps the worst are the contrived "special topics" sections. These are an attempt by the authors to bring some kind of real-world relevance to their subject matter. These might also be called "Thermodynamics in Everyday Life." The concept is good, but the execution falls flat on it face. A few examples:
* 12 pages on dieting advice and recipes.
* 10 pages on choosing an automobile and driving it so as to maximize mileage.
* A long and detailed description of the method of electrically stunning, slaughtering, and freezing chickens.
* Several pages on the disadvantages of saying angry things to your co-workers (it increases "social entropy").
All-in all, these "special topics" fill about 20% of the book's total page count. The book would have been clearer, shorter, and presumably less expensive without them; it would also have killed fewer trees - another topic the authors devoted a "special topic" section to.
The artwork in the book is pathetic as well. The majority of it seems to be 2-D vector images taken from a freebie clipart collection. This alternates with some "Dagwood and Blondie" cartoons where (apparently) the authors have replaced the contents of the dialog baloons with clever sayings about thermodynamics.
In summary, this is a very irritating book to use. The level of information not very deep, and all the "good stuff" is hidden away between discussions of salad dressing and frozen chicken carcasses. There's got to be something better out there.
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