Customer Reviews:
 Talking book August 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Firstly, I would recommend this book for anybody interested in general science. The title poses a question not many of us think to ask and, in any case, instinctively feel that we already know the answer to. However, if you think about it for a minute, why don't we fall through the floor? Can you explain why some materials (like wood and steel) support our weight whilst others (like rubber) deflect and others still (such as water) flow out of the way at the slightest force? Why do things break? What makes some materials stronger than others? What is strength in any case? How come sheet glass shatters but engineers use glass fibre to strengthen plastics? Why does cast iron bear massive weights but shatter like glass when you drop it? This is a fascinating set of questions and J. E. Gordon supplies the answers in a comprehensive AND entertaining way.
The book is accessible to anybody. There is no complicated maths (although, unavoidably, there are some elementary equations to be understood) and the author mixes and matches his units in the same way that ordinary people do (he talks in miles and millimetres where necessary, pounds per square inch rather than megapascals etc etc).
Secondly, I also recommend this book to anybody who is about to study engineering - particularly materials science or structural engineering. Your lecturers will teach you all about elasticity, Poisson's ratio, yield stresses and strains, about how to predict and measure them and interpret the results but this book links them all together and explains what they really mean in practice. In a nutshell, it is the perfect introduction to materials science and is miles more accessible than those shelves of dry old text books in the college library. Cite it in your coursework essays - you can bet your lecturers will have read it when they were students!
Why Can't Lectures Be This Easy To Understand? August 1, 2002
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you have ever sat through a materials science lecture or tutorial and felt it was all beyond you this book is for you. Even if you haven't struggled, this book explains its subject in such a simple concise and above all interesting way that I can recommend it without hesitation. It is especially good to read as an introduction to the subject before you start a course in materials science/mechanical engineering. Even if you don't fall into one of the above categories but have an interest in the subject - do read it, it is not written for students or engineers especially, just for anyone with an interest. I can also recommend wholeheartedly the sister volume "Structures".
One of the must read book for all materials scientists August 11, 2001
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
To understand the history of materials science is essential for modern day researchers in this field, especially the increasing usage of computing modelling requires the most basic root of every single theory. This book can provide a good introduction for this purpose, and I think that all materials students and scientists should read this book.
 An informative look at what holds everything together September 26, 2000
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you have, or are presently studying science A-levels, then this book should not prove a problem. However if the mere sight of an equation, large numbers, or graphs, makes you feel weak at the knees then you can stop reading now.To begin, the book deals with the general properties of all materials. It explains how materials are used to their best in either compression or tension, and explains the reasons behind it using facts and figures, whilst diagrams help you to understand it on the microscopic level. The influence of cracks on different substances is also discussed and the theories for why some objects are left brittle whilst others are not. The second half of the book concerns itself with specific material groups such as timber and metals. If you have an interested in Building, Architecture or design, you will probably find this book will enlighten you to a few things in a "non-textbook" way.
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