Mechanical Behavior of Materials

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, covers the subject well
Review: There are many books on the market that deal with mechanical behavior of materials. Two of the better ones I've seen are Hertzberg and this one by Courtney. What distinguishes Courtney's book from the others is that I feel that he's written his book with a certain sympathy toward the student, and he covers nonmetallic materials, as well as metals, in depth. To illustrate the first point, Courtney's figure captions are extensive, about a paragraph long on average. This makes it easier to study the figures, since they're all described in depth in the captions. You don't have to look at the text to find the information relevant to the figure. This makes it easier on the reader. Also, in some sections his writing style takes on an informality that's refreshing, as if he were in the room lecturing to you. Too many textbooks resort to stilted phrases such as "The reader should . . ." or studiously avoid using the word "you" for fear of bridging some imagined wall between author and reader. Professor Courtney would have none of that. As for my second point, Courtney covers metals, ceramics and polymers, as well as composite materials and cellular solids. I would fault the book only for the poor reproduction quality of many of its figures; they're legible but look as though they've been scanned in at very low resolution. I would also have liked a more comprehensive subject index. But overall, I recommend this book as one of the best in a field loaded with textbooks.