Sterile
I could not follow the examples or the chapter explanations. I felt as though Beer and Johnson do not want me to understand the basic concepts. I would spend hours on a few problems and understand about half the material. I would buy LINDEBURG books on fundamentals of engineering. Do not buy this book even if it is assigned to the class. Most of your classmates or going to work together on homework problems and never open the book.
Tough book, keep with it.
The book seems almost outdated with its long text. Additionally, the practice problems at the end of each chapter can be confusing to take on based on the text. The book requires a good teacher supplement or secondary reference.
HOWEVER:
After a while, you'll get a feel for the way the book operates and you'll finish with a very strong understanding of the book's concepts. You just have to stick with it. The problems at the end of the book, although confusing at first, are great practice to applying the concepts in ways that are not explicitly defined in the chapter texts. I'd recommend this if you're willing to take on the problems and have supplemental material available.
Great resource
I haven't looked at different options in terms of others with the same content. It is a great resource in understanding fundamental properties of materials. It has lots of examples that help alot when working the problems even though some were a little vague.
Another overpriced unnecessary edition ...
...and STILL the answer key is wrong. From the Wikipedia:
"In materials science, the strength of a material refers to the material's ability to withstand an applied stress without failure. Yield strength refers to the point on the engineering stress-strain curve (as opposed to true stress-strain curve) beyond which the material begins deformation that cannot be reversed upon removal of the loading. Ultimate strength refers to the point on the engineering stress-strain curve corresponding to the maximum stress."
The last edition of this book was in 2005. What exactly in the above definition of this subject matter has changed in the last four years? Are our bridges in danger of breaking into pieces and floating into space? Or perhaps the authors have lost a great deal in the stock market and picking the pockets of students who had a great supply of affordable used fourth editions was the solution to the authors' problems?
I used this book in one of its much earlier incarnations (early 90's) for a class, and it was wonderfully written. The prose was clear, the examples to the point, and the illustrations were entirely adequate. However, that was the second or so edition, and the answer key was still wrong back then. I compared the fourth edition of this book to my stepson's fifth edition, and I have to say, what is the point? The sections have been rearranged as have the questions, and it appears some of the errors in previous editions are gone, but new ones have popped up, in some cases to problems that have been in this book for years but have just been put in a different place in the book.
If this book was about the underlying subject of material science aimed at seniors or graduate students, well that subject changes quickly. However, this is a book aimed at college sophomores, and the underlying calculations have not changed. I really loved studying this subject with my second edition. Since that edition was sufficient in 1992, I don't know why three more editions with no more room for improvement with the exception of the answer key which has still not been fixed is necessary for anything but the publisher's bottom line.
CEE BOOK
Great Book. Well put together and thought out. Newest edition with the most up to date infomation. Should be in every CEE library
