The Acoustic Bubble

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad
Review: Overall this is a decent book, and most people working in this field would benefit from much of the hard to find information contained within it. The main problem I have with the book is that the author seems to be totally unaware of who his audience is. For example, at times the author appears to be writing for someone who has never had a single physics/math course, and then one paragraph later he assumes knowledge of advanced mathematical analysis. Case in point: he has been using vector calculus for a while and then suddenly feels the need to explain the difference between a vector and a scalar. Other times it goes the other way, that is, he jumps from talking about simple physical situations which are explained fairly well to complicated nonlinear situations modeled by PDEs that are not derived. Some of the equations are just given, with little explanation as to where they come from. For someone who has had courses dealing with fluid mechanics and sound waves, and has a solid mathematical background, this book is fine. However, an undergraduate not as well versed will be frustrated by the shift from lucid explanations to advanced material and back again.

Rating:
Summary: The Acoustic Bubble
Review: This is what the professional and scientific journals said about this book when they reviewed it.

"One can only effervesce with praise... both comprehensive and readable - that informs the expert and educates the novice... The reader is well served by the author's careful attention to detail, extensive table of symbols (..), excellent use of photographs and graphics, and extraordinarily comprehensive bibliography, and, most of all, by his lucid descriptions of phenomena...Leighton is on top of all these recent developments" (Journal of the Acoustical Society of America).

"a lovely stroll through the realms and regions of acoustic cavitation, examining it in depth and breadth... an indispensable resource...The brief discussion of cavitation nucleation is superb and probably the best available on this topic... an excellent compendium of (..) equations and dynamical approaches and is probably the best and broadest reference on this topic available... not only details the historical record but offers intuitive explanations of its own" (Journal of Sound and Vibration).

"There is no doubt that this is the most comprehensive and accessible text on acoustic cavitation available... This is a required reference for scientists and, in particular, medical physicists interested in becoming acquainted with the mathematical description of bubble dynamics and the wealth of associated physical phenomena. It is user friendly, thorough in its treatment of the theory and encyclopaedic in its coverage of the experimental literature. I have no doubts that it will become a standard text." (Scope -the journal of the Institute of Physical Science in Medicine)

"The strength of this book lies in its effortless and enjoyable coverage of a wide swathe of rather intimidating literature and its unified approach... a fascinating wealth of detail... essential reading" (Physics in Medicine and Biology).

"for the reader there is a great deal of fascination... a major achievement" (Sonic Pulse).