This is really a great introductory book for learning mechanics of materials. Each phenomena is dealt with from an energy point of view. This allows of suitable simplications of phenomenologically complicated processes, and presents a comprehensive framework for dealing with a large range of processes. The book can be essentially divided into two parts. The first part introduces the reader to the mechanics fundamentals and the mathematical tools. The second part deals with the application of the tools to develop elasticity and plasticty models. The analysis is consistent throughout, and very lucid. A really great book !

I found this book simply beautiful.
Every subjects are discussed in a truly comprehensive manner, and yet the flow of ideas is retained throughout the chapters. The books shows how exactly each theorem and principle is derived, and the arguments are always based on solid physical terms - a quality that other mechanics books don't always possess.
Might be too tough for undergrads, but very nice for graduate levels.

Wonderful book containing the real reason the Strauss Family was able to success with their Waltz business: The un-questioning resolve of Josef!

The book leaves you wondering how much Josef would have accomplished, how great his music would have become if he had lived longer than his 42 years.

This is a very methodical, thorough step by step manual for investing your IRA or retirement funds in real estate. This book was very helpful to me for a number of reasons. A year ago or so I asked three different advisers at Fidelity Mutual Funds whether I could use my IRA money there to purchase and renovate a piece of real estate. They each said no. But this book says the answer should have been yes. That I can set up my own IRA, even a rollover IRA or Keough, and purchase and improve real estate with the money from the IRA. And the book is very methodical about how to do it, including forms and steps in the procedure. I would think the book would also be helpful to estate planners and lawyers who are helping people plan their estates. One thing I wish the authors would address is why should you put your retirement funds in real estate rather in the stock market or mutual funds. Are there tax advantages? Is the income sheltered? Is it easier (ie fewer estate taxes on heirs) to pass real estate on to heirs--is the value of real estate discounted somehow? I wish I had had this book when I was talking to Fidelity so I could have rolled over those IRA funds into this building I bought rather than borrowing money from a bank.

I received this cookbook as a gift and have made almost ever recipe in it...each one is truly amazing! The cookbook has recipes ranging from easy to more complicated, but the outcome of each is a dish which you will swear was made in a five star restaurant. This book will compliment the library of any person with a taste for fine (vegetarian or not) food. It is the perfect companion to a Vegetarian Cookbook which provides many of the necessities, but lacks in originality. I highly highly recommend it!

After reading a book about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, I noted in the bibliography a book about her husband Emperor Franz Joseph and his long term paramour, Katharina Schratt. Because of the mental problems experienced by his wife, his relationship with her left the Emperor deeply unsatisified. He was able to find love with an Austrian actress. The emperor was in his 50's and the actress in her 30's and their romance lasted for the rest of their lives.

Author Haslip does an excellent job of describing the times in Vienna during the later half of the 19th century. The affair is touching in that it was carried on discreetly but left both participants with some measure of personal happiness. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this time period and the personal lives of various historical figures.

I found this book quite good for general info about places to visit in Beijing. Beijing a little over 1/2 inch thick, it is quite thin. It primarily lists the 10 main sites to visit in Beijing. For each spot it lists quite a bit of info, history, pictures, operating hours, etc. It also lists what is nearby to visit each of the 10 sites, whether it be shopping centers or resturaunts.

In addition to the 10 major scenic sites, it also has a section called 'excursions' for detailing where to go outside of Beijing for nearby excursions, such as, the great wall, ming tombs, chengde, etc. It also has sections for resturaunts, nightlife, shopping, leisure activities, history, general everyday use info, getting around etc.

Overall, it is a good bare-bones book for use when going to Beijing. It is not as thorough as other guidebooks for example, Fodors china. But considering the small size of the book, it obviously can't go into tremendous detail about such a large and exciting city!

Aimed at the vacationer or business traveller, the strength of this guide is its guided walks/day trip itineraries...and in for a place whose coastline and skyline is forever changing, not to mention its complete change of sovreignty, the more up to date your guidebook the better!

I found the guide to be quite good and conveniently compact. My one criticism is that information for a given area is in several different places in the book. For example, there is a section on Wan Chai as a tour, another for Wan Chai at night, another section under excursions, and then Wan Chai restaurants are listed in a fourth section, altho some are included in the previous sections. This made for a lot of page flipping back and forth. This should all be consolidated into one section on Wan Chai. I thought the info was very good, just a lot of page flipping ("Now, where did I see that?")