Schaum Engineering Thermodynamics (Schaum's Outlines)

Rating:
Summary: Inconsistent Units are a Pain
Review: One very aggravating part of this book was the mixture of English and Metric units in the problems and tables. This is supposed to be a text on learning thermodynamics. Not one of learning unit conversions. Trying to understand and apply some of the examples was very tedious because the examples used English units while the tables were all done in Metric.

Rating:
Summary: Buy It and Use It
Review: Some subjects are intuitive, and some subjects are harder to grasp. Thermodynamics is - frankly - hard to grasp. If you want to learn the nuts and bolts of thermodynamics buy this book and do hundreds of problems. That is how you learn the subject. There are no short cuts. You may not even learn much unless you do not sit down and spend some time doing problems. That is the key to passing a course, getting good grades, or just learning the subject.

I used to be a good engineering student and a professor and I know from experience that the secret to success is problems, problems, and more problems. Buy this book as supplement to your regular textbook. Once you understand the subject the different units will not be a bother.

Jack in Toronto

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is an excellent book for actually trying to understand this difficult subject. Firstly its not bogged down with obsolete American units, though it does cover enough examples for anyone who really wants to go that way. Secondly there is a wealth of tables and properties in the index, which alone makes this book worth the money as a reference tool,(and all in simple SI units).Third, there seems to have been a determined effort at getting the message across. The one shortcoming I have found is the lack of a list of symbols/abbreviations used throughout the book (hence the lack of the fifth star rating), though they thankfully are pretty standard. My tip - if you read this very worthwhile book, jot down the symbols as they crop up then you won't waste any time having to track them down again. These comments do not apply to the identical version that comes with a software supplement (I tried it but couldnt be bothered to get up to speed with the mathcad its written with).