Customer Reviews

Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

this book is colorful and all, but it will be helpful if there is a sol'n manual 'cuz the sample problems are very easy and the hw are outrageously hard

I had a hard time following the concepts presented in this book. I agree with the previous reviewer that the example problems were particularly easy, followed by only medium-hard to hard problems in the excercise section. If the text had a solutions manual (not hard to to since there are 100's of problems in each section) it would be easier to see where I'm making my mistakes.

Other than that, the pictures did help with my understanding of the material.

I used this book for my college Statics class, and it has been one of my favorite texts so far. The derivations of all the equations are very clear. Many real world examples/applications are also included, which helps spice up an otherwise dry subject matter. Also, the example problems correspond well to the homework problems, allowing you to work backwards if you are stuck. I've seen lots of complaints about the lack of a solutions manual, but personally, I felt it was uneccesary.

Gives examples with no reasoning behind them.

I am a returning student, 10+ years out of H.S. I recently completed calc based physics 1 (A-), calc 1,2,&3,(A,A-,A) and other similar courses, with some good instructors, some less than ideal, requiring that I read and understand the text book. This book fails to provide useful instruction, My instructor fails to present materials in an understandable manner, and this text does not make up for his shortcomings.

This text is very good: It's one of the best physics/math/engineering related text I've seen so far.
Learning this subject in engineering is pretty crucial. This is like the basics. Like knowing how to do addition and subtraction in math.
A lot of the classes in the future assume you have a good understanding of this. In fact, some problems require you to do a full set of vector statics problems before you can even get started. (and that's only 10% of the problem)

Many of the practice problems will take 1-2 hours to do the first time through. However, If you spend a good 6-12 hours on each chapter, you'll notice that you have a very good understanding of the subject at the end and the problems become much easier. (Though, because of the sure mass of calculations you have to slug through; it'll still take around 15-30 mins each problem)

The practice problems are all really pretty easy, there is just a little trick that varies for each problem that you need to figure out and learn. [When you are doing them, they will make you face-table in frustration.]
If you can't figure out a problem, make sure you stick to it for at least 1-2 hours. Than you can give up and use the solution manual.

Cramster.com has about 80% of the problems in the book solved step by step.

This text is good at using wordage to explain how to understand concepts and problem solving techniques. However, like most people, i find that I need to see these things worked out to understand these concepts. The material itself is satisfactory in this book, however there are only about 2 worked out examples per concept in this text, and some of these concepts can be difficult to grasp. Lastly, intermediate problem solving is often not made clear in this text. If you are the type of person that likes to read a lot to understand statics, then this book may be for you, but if you are a person that needs clear demonstration of the concepts and techniques visited in this text, this book is definitely not for you. By the way, these comments also apply to the Dynamics book that is also written by Beer & Johnston.

I had to take a class on Statics to fulfill my requirements for graduation as a Computer Science major, which included one engineering class not related to computers. I chose what looked the most interesting to me, and I was lucky to take the class with this book. Detailed sample problems, good idea flow, and answers in the back all made this a great book for a student. There wasn't a single concept I didn't understand, and I was able to solve most of the problems correctly just with the aid of the text, the rest of which I was able to solve with the help of groupwork. I recommend this to anyone who is taking a Statics class, even if this isn't the required textbook, if you can afford the price tag...

I do not recommend this book. This textbook is difficult to follow, it is difficult to grasp new concepts from the book. This book is not detailed enough, it often does not show all the steps that are taken in an example problem; this makes it difficult to understand many of the problems, especially the more difficult ones. I would also suggest that if it is possible, take calculus III before you take statics.Calculus III gives a much better and more thorough explaintion of the basis of vector mechanics. If you want a book that lays a better mathmatical base for vectors and vector mechanics, try reading "Calculus, 5th ed." by James Stewart. This book is an excellent indroduction to statics and it explains in much clearer language the derivations for of many of the equations presented in vector mechanics.

This is a great book (aside from the one by Meriam and Kriege). Illustrations are clear, examples were clear with no steps missing. However...some problems are on the challenging side--great for training engineers, but not cool for homework without a solutions manual for the sticky (and usually even numbered) problems. Recommended nonethless!

This statics book is horrible if you're trying to understand a new subject. The problems that follow the readings are not close to the sample problems that are worked out in those sections. I bought Hibbeler's book on statics which is WAY better than this book. It covers the same amount of material in a fraction of the pages and explains the subject in a way that's far easier to understand.