This is a very good book. if you are a first or second year student studying any engineering(especialy Mechanics and Civil Eng.), You'd better it now. It helps you to understand the foundation theorem of mechanics especialy in elasticity. It's very helpful if you read it with Timoshenko and Gere's "Mechanics of materials"

This book is an excellent addition to the library. It's fascinating to read about all those great pioneers in mechanics, like Galileo,Prandtl,(he was also a great scientist in hydrodynamics and boundary layer theory) Boussinesq, Foppl and others. It's also interesting to know where the various assumptions we use today come from. (Transverse Shear deformation effects etc.,). The origin of beautiful concepts like Castigliano's theorem, minimum complementary energy theorem, betti maxwell reciprocity theorem etc are also given. Will make a very good reading for a weekend, if you are interested in mechanics of materials.

Who was invented the strength of materials, and who invented the moments of inertia.

This is a classic in structural engineering. Although this book is quite old,it is a key book and very beneficial for structural engineers.If you have money and interested with structural engineering buy this book.

This is a book that every civil engineer needs as part of their library. After having studied structures about 25 years ago and with computer programs of today it is still an important book where fundamental concepts are derived and applied by hand. It is truely a classical text on structural analysis written by a pioneer and mechanics expert.

Granted that this is an old structures book. I used it about 25 years ago when doing structural theory at University of Melbourne. Have designed many buildings and structures since then by using computer programs, but how nice it is to review the basic theory of structural analysis at root levels by an expert. This book has been one of my classical books in my civil engineering library and I browse thru it every now and again to review its classical nature.

Theory of Plates and Shells is divine revelation for serious engineering geeks who design and analyze structures for cutting edge technology, such as aircraft and space systems. Composite buckling and crippling analysis comes alive when explained in the light of Steve Timoshenko's mathematics. Without this text, analysts are clueless about the mystical behavior of buckling plates. If aircraft design does not excite you, then use it as a non-addictive sleeping pill.

This book covers most of the major topics related to elastic stability in structural members. Our professor stated that this was more of a "guide book" than a text book and I do agree. There is a noticeable lack of examples which could be used to transition to valid applications. But if you are looking for theory relating to the elastic stability of most structures, this is a good place to start your search.

According to one review that I've read so far, there is some truth to a certain extent. Yes, the book does not have example problems, but at the same time this book is probably not the best choice to teach an undergrad class. Timoshenko is a classic, it shows all the mathematical derivations and the theoretical fundamentals. Students usually do not appeal to that, rather they prefer something "mulched" and easy to digest. So, this is a book for more experienced students and professionals.

I am a civil engineering student who just finished a course in stregth of materials with this text. I found the book fairly easy to follow with good example problems. My main complaint is that the authors consistantly referred to diagrams and figures that were on different pages, causing the reader to flip back and forth. Sometimes the figures were 5 or 6 pages back. This interrupted the continuity of the text, making it more difficult to read. Otherwise, I feel the book is excellent. (If you care, I got an A- in the course. Take this however you want to)

I guess I can see some criticism from a mechanical enineers point of view for lack of fatigue failure analysis. But this book is mainly written for the beginning undergraduate for stress and strain analyis. It is by far one of the handiest and most well written books on the subject that I have come across. If you want fatigue life buy a Shigley book. If you want the basic understanding, Timoshenko is wonderful.

I bought this book as a supplement to my old school text because an engineer can never have enough good resouces in the working world. I chose it after much research as it was well recommended as THE BOOK to have. I have found it to be an excellent reference book. Most all the homework problems have answers in the back as a check. The publishing and editing qualities are excellent.

Like all Timoshenko's books it is not a textbook. It is a collection of solved problems. This book does not provide the general vision of elasticity -one of the most beautiful physical theories.

It is said Tymoshenko is among the first who introduced mechanics to the states. I gave it five stars because of its historical importance.I have this book on shelf, due to it large influence but, to be frank, seldom referred to it. This book, like all other Tymoshenko's books, was written in a pure engieering fashion. If you are looking at these solved problems, like twisting of a prismatic bars, this is the book for you. It involves many classical technique for solving boundary value problmes. However, if you are more theoretically orientated, there are much better presentations outside, from the moderate mathematical Fung's book, to the highly mathematical Green's book. It is my opinion that the beautiful theoretical parts of elasticity are absent in Tymoshenko.

A classic text and a good buy for a whole career. It covers everything. I know it is quite an old book but it is still the best one around about elasticity. I was using this book in my university years when I was doing a General Engineering course however, I still find it very useful. This book is a must-have for all engineers.