Explosives Engineering

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but certainly not poorly written
Review: Cooper moves from one subject to another in a manner that may annoy some. However, this is NOT a "teeny-bomber" book. If you have an interest in Thermochemistry and are familiar with some of the European methods of modeling, you may enjoy some of the more unique areas Cooper explores. The author leads you to this point by utilizing basic Thermodynamic concepts and this is why some readers may get bored. Although he does provide background if you actually read the text and don't skip about.

On the other hand; his models of Estimating Properties of Explosives (& Detonation Properties)is professional and a quick read. If you are familiar with the European presentations of the Rankine-Hugoniot Jump Equations this book will not appear Greek to you (pardon the pun). On a level most basic to the novice, Cooper's piece on Initiation & Initiators (detonators, etc) is well done, and easy for the novice to grasp. The book moves more toward explosive use in indusry and models, less so in terms of organic chemistry but there is enough nomenclature, basic structural formulas, history, and detonation theory to keep you reading as well as leading you forward to areas wherein you may not have a background. Undergraduate level stuff but quite useful for both the classroom as well as to explain world standards to those with a more focused background in explosive utility in a simple military context. This book attempts to be wide reaching and is useful for such a huge undertaking.

Rating:
Summary: This is the most exact and concise reference available today
Review: Paul Cooper has done an outstanding job of detailing the diverse world of explosives engineering. Included is sufficient detail to get a researcher new to a topic started and enough background to help an 'old timer' teach. The last five chapters on Engineering Applications is an unequalled summary of the use and analysis of the practice of explosives engineering. I use this book as my 'carry along' reference for both R&D testing and systems analysis of explosive devices.

Rating:
Summary: A badly written book
Review: This book is about 460 pages and contains fives sections. He starts with the chemistry of explosives. The next section is on thermodynamics properties followed by a section on shock waves. The last two sections are on detonation and initiation. I was particularly interested in shock waves. I found the book inadequate in every possible sense. The notation is an absolute disaster. There is no saying what represents what and sometimes the same symbol has been used to represent several different quantities in the same place. One must try very hard to figure out what is actually meant. The mathematical treatment of shock waves is primitive and almost non-existent. I got the impression that the author does not have a good grasp of the subject. The book resembles an internal report or a collection of white papers as it is customary in some companies nowadays. The book needs a lot of editing, as some sentences are incomprehensible. Here is an example sentense form page 208 : "First we will look at the P-x diagram, a few diagrams in time of the shock presure and the interface, Figure 18.5. " If you know nothing about the subject, then this maybe a place to start because the book is very basic. Just be sure you are not confused by the inconsistent notation. If you are interested to learn about the shock waves and their interaction, I recommend "Physics of Shock Waves and High Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena" by Zel'dovich and Raizer.