Engineering Mechanics: Statics (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Not for self studying
Review: Although the basics of statics is explained in each chapter, this doesn't help answer the more complicated section and review questions in each chapter. The examples were too simple and very few were given. I found myself refering back to my calculus textbook to get a more in depth explaination of the topics. And even though every other question had an answer in the back of the book (which is typical of most textbooks), that didn't help with the actual step by step solution of the question. You're left on your own to dig through the book to piece together a solution for each problem. A student solutions manual would be helpful. I would not recommend this book if you plan on using it in a self taught enviroment.

Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners
Review: Although this text leaves out some topics that could be covered, this was a very easy-to-follow book, and it's appropriate for beginning engineers. (Not for advanced civil/mechanical engineers). It's very possible to use the book alone to get a good introduction to statics. There are many problems, and every other problem has the solution in the back of the book for practice. Although I did find some misprints occasionally, there were not enough to be a major problem.

Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners
Review: Although this text leaves out some topics that could be covered, this was a very easy-to-follow book, and it's appropriate for beginning engineers. (Not for advanced civil/mechanical engineers). It's very possible to use the book alone to get a good introduction to statics. There are many problems, and every other problem has the solution in the back of the book for practice. Although I did find some misprints occasionally, there were not enough to be a major problem.

Rating:
Summary: Well though out for the student in mind.
Review: As an engineering student, I found this book very appealing. Its step-by-step presentation of various topics dealing with static structures make it clear and easy to understand for a freshman engineer and can also be used for future quick-reference. Its colorful, crisp diagrams give the student a good opportunity to develop their spatial perception of 3 dimensional objects. Finally, the book's use of calculus is limited and doesn't make the subject intimidating for the first year student.

Rating:
Summary: Goog book
Review: I used this book for my Statics class and it has been one the best books I have read in college. Bedford & Fowler were able to make the subject easy to understand for any student without any immediate need for a calculus background. The book teaches you all the fundamentals of Statics in a simple way and goes into a good variety of problems for the user to solve at the end of each section. My only complaint would probably lie in the Moment of Inertia chapter. It gave good examples on how to find moment of inertia but failed to tell you its use. I would still recommend this book as a class textbook.

Rating:
Summary: A very expensive book, but the quality is not so good
Review: It would help if a solutions manual were available to the public. It has a good overview of statics. Plese do not buy this book, a solutions manual is not available to the student. Therefore it sucks.

Rating:
Summary: do not buy this book it is bad
Review: It would help if a solutions manual were available to the public. It has a good overview of statics. Plese do not buy this book, a solutions manual is not available to the student. Therefore it sucks.

Rating:
Summary: A very expensive book, but the quality is not so good
Review: The main advantage of this book are the examples: very well described and with wonderful pictures; but it is my opinion that the ideas and principles of statics are not well explained and the student, after reading this book is quite confused. So I recommend to do not buy this book if you need clear and good explanation of the theory.

Rating:
Summary: horrible, find a better book
Review: What I as a student found lacking in this book: 1.) It has many problems, which is a good thing, but this fact is negated by its lack of a publically available solutions manual and numerous and obvious misprints. 2.) Many of the examples gloss over important points to note and I found many vague and cursory. The instructor I had used more detailed material from other textbooks. Many examples also appeared to be used as a substitute for generalized text explainations and diagrams. It also seemed rather vague on the more theroetical aspects of the material. Considering all the other Statics textbooks out there, chances would favor some of them being a lot better than this one. And taking into account the price, I would consider this book a total waste of resources. If you're a mechanical engineering or aerospace student, you'll probably need a better introduction than this if you hope to survive the more advanced courses.