Rating: 
Summary: Excellent introduction for beginners
Review: This is one of the best introductory books from outside the engineering community that can be used by beginners. I learned the basic equations of fluid dynamics by self-study from chapters 3-4. Chapter 3 is an excellent discussion of kinematics, taking time to carefully examine the various components of the strain rate tensor (although I prefer to call it the deformation tensor): this important topic is often ignored in other texts. Chapter 4 gives the derivation of the conservations laws (mass, momentum, and energy balance; angular momentum and entropy) including the corresponding forms for a rotating frame of reference. The development of the basic equations in Chs. 3-4 is systematic and very appealing to someone with a physics background.The other chapters are: Vorticity Dynamics, Irrotational flow, Gravity waves, Dynamic similarity, Laminar flow, Boundary layers, Instability, Turbulence, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Aerodynamics, and Compressible Flow. Quite a range of material, all in one place. Overall, one of the best introductory books that I've seen.
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