An Introduction to Continuum Mechanics (Volume 158) (Mathematics in Science and Engineering, Volume 158)

Excellent!

excelente

I am not one to normally write reviews, but I really don't think any of the others are quite accurate. 1) This is a very IMPORTANT book in the field. Almost anyone actually doing research that involves continuum mechanics writes in a style that makes use of Gurtin's notation key ideas and concepts put forward in this book. 2) This book is not necessarily the best to learn from. I would never assign this book as a text in a class I would teach. The compact notation is not easy for a student to grasp. Indicial notation is preferable to Gurtin's notation as a student gets a handle on simple things like how many equations in how many unknowns does this statement represent. I would however expect any graduate student in solid mechanics to be fluent in direct tensor notation. 3) This book is often very subtle and nuanced. It takes a deep understanding of the subject to really get this book. Readers who complain that the material is not deep enough are very mistaken. The simple analogy is in physics comparing F=MA to the sentence "Force is the time rate change of momentum". To someone who knows physics the sentence is much more conceptually complete and conveys much more meaning than the simple physics 1 equation. To the novice the sentence would probably not be very deep, and is probably useless at solving homework problems. To sum up: If you are a researcher or graduate student who needs this book, you don't need this review. If you are a student seeing this material for the first time, purchasing this book will probably be a waste of your time. Come back to it in a few years. To students I would recommend: Continuum Mechanics for Engineers, Second Edition , or Continuum Mechanics

I am of the school that there is no "best" book on any subject matter. Rather, the serious student should look for a spanning set of texts. Defining "best" requires a point of reference and it it clear that a beginner is looking for something different than a researcher. In any case, let me say that if you have taken a beginning course in continuum mechanics, this is an excellent second book. To give this book to a novice and expect them to learn the subject would be like giving Foundations of Mechanics by Marsden to someone and say "go learn classical mechanics". Of all the classics, I think it is best to start with Malvern. It is a good place to absorb the basics and learn index notation. It is the first book I would recommend. Next, progress to Gurtin. The elegance and utility of direct tensor notation will then become clear. Also be aware that Gurtin is a mathematician and approaches the material from the perspective of elegance as opposed to physical insight.

Regarding math in this book, I compeletly disagree with the reviewer from Rotterdam. Gurtin introduces gradients of tensor functions in much more general way than many books on the cont. mech. He also introduces div,curl,outer product operations differently than just by giving appriopriate formulas with partial derivatives. So my match taste is compeletly different and I recommend this book.

After reading this book, I have to say that the book by Gurtin is nicely written --- from the context of typesetting. But the content is really not detail enough. It is more suitable for people who are very familar with continuum mechanics already and want to write their equations in a nice and 'sexy' way !

This book could as well be sold in the 'cooking books' section. Does not delve deeply into the math and only provides clear-cut recipes. Does not inspire the reader to really think about the stuff. I would recommend this book to nobody.

I have read this book from cover to cover and have done all the exercises in it and cannot find a better book to recommend to other scientists wishing to learn continuum mechanics! I believe the book contains enough details, though one definitely has to complete the exercises after each chapter to get an understanding of how brilliant is the author's approach to the subject. It is a concise, yet at the same time a very complete introduction into the topics in Continuum mechanics. Every student studying mechanics should be proud to own this classic!

Come da titolo, questo libro rappresenta il riferimento per chi vuole preparare l’esame di fisica Matematica. Decisamente consigliato, anche se il libro non è certo economico

Wow! I love this monograph

Very nice book.