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Rating: Summary: better than most professors, but... Review: Better than most professors, but concepts are still difficult to grasp. Have you ever had one of those tennis ball machines go crazy at you? That is how continuum mechanics is, you constantly have things hurled in your direction and you don't know how to stop them. The concepts are very difficult to understand since I'm sure many professors have a hard time understanding the course material itself. The Schaum's outline helps very much in the sense that it slows down the hurling of material and it explains where many equations are derived from. This book stands out above the rest of continuum mechanics books in the sense that it offers solved problems, which is rare for such a theoretical class.
Rating: Summary: a good source for a "quick review" Review: Like most other Schaum's series, the theory sections are condensed, which makes the part more like a compendium of continuum mechanics. The theoretical sections are thus good for a quick review of the material but not a good resource for "learning" the material. The biggest advantage of the book is that it provides an inexpensive summary of continuum mechanics. The downside of the book is that the solved problems are not similar to the type of problems one confronts in a typical continuum course. In most cases several problems (statement together with the solution) are presented in a single page, which shows that each problem has been solved in 1-5 lines. I personally don't like most of the problems presented here; however, the problems could be useful for warming up. A better book is "Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium" by Malvern, which is the best I've seen in explaining the intricacies of the theory. Another good complement is Holzapfel's "Nonlinear Solid Mechanics: A Continuum Approach for Engineering", which contains both the theory AND some solved sample problems.
Rating: Summary: Not really a very good book Review: Not really a very good book on continuum mechanics. However, it does summarise some very important points and equations useful for quick reference. The exercise is not so great.
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