As another addition to my review, I wish to state the following things:

1) I have taken the courses in machine design and kinematics and know what I am doing. I am not expecting an easy answer to my design problem or expecting the software on the disk to be another "Working Model" or "I-DEAS" or whatever. I did all calculations in my design courses by hand. 2)It's only that my expectation of a "WINDOWS" program is probably different from the authors'. I don't want bevelled buttons or colored text input boxes, however useful they may be. I want them to conform to windows like look and feel, that's all.

I wish to correct my earlier review based on the information the author has provided here. Yes, I tried closing it using File menu and everything worked normally. As far as suggestions to the user interface are concerned, I would suggest the following: 1) Please remove the red color titles etc., They are annoying and very hard to read. Atleast provide an option for changing it. 2) If possible, instead of cramming all the information on one screen, split it between a couple of screens with a next button or something similar. 3) A couple of tutorials would be helpful for learning to use the software. Thanks to the author for the clarification. I apologize if my earlier review was misleading. As I said earlier, the content of the book is excellent.

The text provides good understanding of linkages, cams, and gears common to mechanisms and machines. Working Model 2D (PC and MAC) is included with the second edition of the text (which is practically worth the cost of the book). There are also WM models of all the figures and examples from the book, which provide excellent supplemental instruction and enhanced visualization skills of mechanism movements. The author written programs also provide additional instruction (about four and five bar linkages, cam design, and engines to name a few) but they are not as user friendly as Working Model nor as easy to use. Also, the PC version of WM installed fine, but no success with the MAC version.

The book is very well illustrated and the approach taken to solve the problems is very consistent. The chapter on internal combustion engine analysis is a very good example of simple mechanisms in action. A must for students and engineers who would like to understand the principle behind mechanisms analysis.

This book has a really good coverage of mechanical components with good emphasis on manufacturing considerations. It is the bible of machine elements!

The most comprehensive text on cam design I have seen printed in 20 years. A definite "must buy" for anyone involved with cams.

As a student trying to learn the art of machine design I found that this book was rather unorganized and it wasn't until I had read it and studied the pages time and time again that the principals really became clear.

This text would be OK if there were no other sources on the subject of mechanical design. However, there are! There is a reason that Shigley wrote a professional standard and Norton did not. It has all the details but there are proof-reading and similar errors.

If you really want to learn and understand mechanical design, Mr. Norton is generous, he teachs everything there is to know. The chapters introduction it's something beyond you can expect from an engineering book. You must have it...

This book discusses a topic that is a grab bag of different disciplines and has nice illustrations but i dont know if it is worth close to $100. Anyone who has significant work history intuitively knows a bulk of the material in this book. The book could be condensed to include the hard data and scientific findings and leave out much of the intuitively obvious commentary. This book is no worse than scores of similar textbooks on 'soft'topics but with the way prices are going many students are captive buyers,forced to buy textbooks at the teacher's request for perhaps questions used in the book for grading purposes while the general info can readily be found in college libraries.

The book may be a good choice for a scholar of OB. If you are a graduate student like I am, you may find it difficult to follow and overloaded with scientific terms. To my mind, the simpler the better, which this book is not.

Clearly these authors have never been in a classroom in the last ten years! Activieis are outdated; current research on constructivism lacking.