Customer Reviews

Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics w/CD-ROM

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

 

 

I used this book in my Statics class in 1977 when it was in its third edition, and now my stepson is using the eighth edition in his statics class. The book was excellent almost to the point of self-teaching the subject then, and it looks like little has changed. There are still plenty of example problems, plenty of end of chapter exercises, and solutions to the vast majority of problems are in the back of the book. In the case of computer exercises, the solutions are at a special website provided by the authors. The figures are very clear and well-labeled and help illustrate the points the author is trying to make in the book. You could probably teach yourself statics using this book if you had some prior exposure to mechanics in a first semester college Physics class and with a little help from a Schaum's outline on the subject, which is always a good idea.

So why am I only giving this book three stars? I give five stars for the quality of the text and I deliver one star for the unnecessary eighth edition, thus averaging to three stars. The seventh edition was only published less than two years ago, and the new price of this book, which all current students are going to have to pay, is outrageous. Of course, this is getting to be the same old song with all successful textbook series. Rearrange a few words here and a few problems there, issue a new edition, and take all the reasonably priced used books out of circulation. This might be warranted with books on computer technology where there is rapid constant change. However, ask yourself, how much has the physics of loads on physical systems in static equilibrium changed since 2005? If you want a good statics book for self-study, get an older edition of this same book and save yourself some money. If you are a student I guess you are stuck. By the way, my third edition (I still have it and use it) cost seventeen dollars in 1977. Compared to the new edition, which is no better and no worse, the price has gone up eight times. I'm no economist but my guess is this far outpaces the rate of inflation for the last thirty years.

This book is great for self learning!, most of the theorems are explained in a very good way (a little too good and normally a little to hard to understand the first time) the examples are clear and the exercises are neither easy nor difficult (well some of them are difficult, but not all of them).
I already had 2 teachers that told me they learned from this book... it's true that almost all the material is the same, but nevertheless it's a great book to get yourself started in Statics... way better than Hibbeler.
The contents of this book are worth every penny, it's almost like having a private tutor.
And remember it's engineering you'll have to do some WORK to master all the subjects.

I don't care very much for this textbook because of how confusing some of the problems are due to misleading figures. The book itself has been around for over fifty years and they still haven't worked out all the bugs... what kind of message is that conveying from the publishers? A bad one...

Found the same book I needed on Amazon for half off again. Nothing beats that. Seriously use this site before buying from your school store.

I could not follow the examples or the chapter explanations. I felt as though Beer and Johnson do not want me to understand the basic concepts. I would spend hours on a few problems and understand about half the material. I would buy Lindeburg books on fundamentals of engineering. Do not buy this book even if it is assigned to the class. Most of your classmates or going to work together on homework problems and never open the book.

I have to say that I was worried I was not getting the right book becuase of the price it was. But after I got it, it was exaclty what I needed and for a price that couldn't have been better. The book was not new, however it is in good shape. Thanks!

I have been looking for a book that could have both the statics and dynamics part for my engineering subject mechanics and I came to know that the book "Vector Mechanics" by Beer & Johnson was the right option for it. This book has everything from the elementary level topics to that of the engineering level concepts. The illustrative examples were interesting but the authors could have represented some real time pictures along with the text so that it could have been better to intercept the concepts. The exercise problems, 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional representations were quite interesting. It would have been more helpful if the solution for the unsolved problems were given or at least a resource could have been mentioned so that the students could find it easier to solve problems and gain more knowledge. Moment of inertia, friction topics were explained in a nice way to be understood, the formulas could have been summarised at the end of each topic make it easier to remember once you go through the book for some reference purpose.
The first two topics were unnecessary since it repeated the same ideas and concepts what everyone would have learnt in their primary education. Instead of the first two topics the evolution of the mechanics concepts and the developers of those ideas could have been mentioned. The dynamics section was not well explained as the mechanics section was made. The overall way of expressing the ideas and concepts was good and this book is suitable only for people who are in their college level because it requires the readers to have a broad knowledge about the basic concepts. The last pages explained some of the space science concepts related with mechanics and it was expressed in a nice way than anyone could imagine. I recommend anyone who is willing to study mechanics and dynamics to study in detail to read this book.

I used this text book for my introductory mechanics class. It presents the information in a clear, understandable way. However, the problems are scattered throughout the chapters (rather than being collected at the end) and certain problems have answers at the end while others don't (not sure what the pattern here is, it's not your typical odd with answers, even without).

I recommend buying the textbook even if you can get away without it. The illustrations and examples are helpful.

the book is good, however, there are a few shortcomings with it. in each chapter, there is a small explanation for the concepts you will need to know in order to solve the questions, but after that, they leave you with only a few example problems which the book solves for you, then you're on your own, ridiculous, you will need to practice ALOT to get the grasp of some of the concepts.

never intended on selling me a book. thanked me buying a solution manual on a pdf file. never responded when i asked about the book. just never what it seems.