Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability (International Series of Monographs on Physics (Oxford, England).)

Rating:
Summary: A practical, beautiful masterpiece
Review: I first read this book just to better understand a small point in a fluid dynamics paper I was reading, but quickly realized it is an encyclopaedic masterpiece, and found myself reading more and more. Chandasekhar's explanations are clear, easily readable, and complete, and should be a model for other writers. Anyone working on fluids should own this.

Rating:
Summary: Most affordable of the classics on hydrodynamic stability
Review: This is one of the standard monographs on hydrodynamic instabilities, considered a classic. It was published by Oxford UP in 1961 and is kept in print (at a bargain price) by Dover. It is still very usable, easy to read, and an excellent introduction, although on some points it is out of date. For Rayleigh-Benard convection, a reader would do well to consult more recent books like Drazin & Reid, Swinney & Gollub, Koschmieder, and Getling. However, nobody covers the linear theory better than Chandrasekhar.

Rating:
Summary: Most affordable of the classics on hydrodynamic stability
Review: This is one of the standard monographs on hydrodynamic instabilities, considered a classic. It was published by Oxford UP in 1961 and is kept in print (at a bargain price) by Dover. It is still very usable, easy to read, and an excellent introduction, although on some points it is out of date. For Rayleigh-Benard convection, a reader would do well to consult more recent books like Drazin & Reid, Swinney & Gollub, Koschmieder, and Getling. However, nobody covers the linear theory better than Chandrasekhar.