Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics

Prof. Tongue is the best dynamics lecturer of the 6 dynamics professors I have had. His books are also equally good at explaining the intricacies of dynamic systems. This book is about as advanced as it gets for undergraduate dynamics, which can be hard to explain in 3D. This text has a decent number of examples, but as with any book the solutions manual (or at least solutions to every other problem) would be the greatest asset in learning the subject. My only real gripe - and this isn't really a valid gripe as this book is not meant to cover it - is that the book teaches Newtonian mechanics instead of Euler/Lagrange dynamics. When learning at this level (especially in 3D) I personally feel that Laghrangian dynamics are the way to go.

This book is written in an easy manner and it is extremely easy and fun to follow the content. There are plenty of exercises that help the reader gain a better understanding of the text. I also like to frequent jokes made by the authors.

Pros: The textbook provides an excellent introduction to dynamics. The book is very easy to read (although non-traditional) and has good examples throughout all nine chapters. The appendix provides useful references; the numerical integration section provides a good introduction for those who have not previously used MATLAB. Cons: The book has no solutions provided to any of the section problems and no solution manual exists. This frustrates test practice efforts and the user has to rely upon the instructor of his or her course to provide the solutions. All in all, this is one of the best textbooks I've read and I would highly recommend taking the time to read it while studying mechanical engineering or a related field.

This book is God awful. They use unconventional methodology, beat around the bush with useless commentary, lack the appropriate standards of most textbooks (i.e. definitions), examples that are difficult to follow, and furthermore, no answers in the back of the book nor is there a solutions manual available which makes it impossible to check your work and confirm if your knowledge about the problem is correct. I've used and read many different engineering textbooks and this is by far the worst I have encountered, which is depressing because this seems to be the staple book for students at UCLA. My distaste for the book is so steadfast that I would recommend you take the class elsewhere if your instructor assigns this text.

My book came in great condition. I have not seen any damage or writing done in this book and it saved me a ton of money. Highly recommend if you're trying to save on school books. I'm an aerospace engineer at Illinois Tech--so I always look for cheaper alternatives.

Perfect conditions!

I was lucky enough to take Advanced Dynamics with Prof. Tongue, and he is a great instructor. It shows in this book. 3D dynamics is a fairly confusing and counter-intuitive subject, and it is fully covered in this book. There are plenty of examples that help you grasp the concepts, however the only complaint I have is the same that I have with other engineering textbook: lack of answers for book problems. While it does defeat the purpose of homework problems, it really is the best way to learn. This book covers 3D dynamics, planetary motion, changing mass systems, the dreaded angular motion in 3D, and more. Essentially covers all of dynamics. The best thing about this textbook is that you can actually learn the material by reading the book which is more than you can say about most textbooks. Will definitely keep this book for future reference!

I used this textbook for a dynamics course in a mechanical engineering degree program. The book is decently explained, but it's not explained similarly to other physics textbooks. The book uses its own methodology, perhaps because it isn't meant to explain all of the physics behind the problems. The examples aren't terribly boring either. As a car enthusiast, I enjoyed the pictures of cartoon BMW's and Ferrari's throughout the book. The book problems are good practice, not too difficult; however, the answers were not given in the back of the textbook, and there is no solutions manual to my knowledge.