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objective opinion, as the area of selection and its associated parameters can vary widely. However, it is more than likely that once the customer becomes familiar with the new layout of the handbook, he will appreciate the superiori- ty of the basic thinking in its compilation and in a short while make it as good a friend as its predecessor.

In conclusion, all users of the handbook are indebted to the immense amount of work that the various experts and committees have put into this volume and above all to the late Dr. Taylor Lyman, editor of the Metals Hand- book 1945--73. The ninth edition is rightly dedicated to his memory and the dedication essay is a richly deserved tribute to his monumental efforts for those in the metal-using industries.

F. HARDESTY

The Determination of Dynamic Properties of Polymers and Composites, by B.E. Read and G.D. Dean, Adam Hilger, Bristol, 1978. ISBN 0-85274-363-7, x + 207 pages, hardback, £18.00.

The principal methods for evaluation of dynamic mechanical properties are discussed. Relevant theory is outlined and experimental techniques, particular- ly those employed at the National Physical Laboratory, are described in detail. Special at tention is paid to sources of error associated with each method. The ultrasonic immersion method and its use for the determination of elastic moduli of anisotropic polymers and composites provides a notable contribution.

The text will be of great value to polymer scientists or engineers wishing to initiate test methods for determination of dynamic properties of polymers and composites and should also prove to be a useful reference work on many as- pects of the background theory.

G.E. ANDERTON

Engineering Mathematics. Volume 2, by A.J.M. Spencer, D.F. Parker, D.S. Berry, A.H. England, T.R. Faulkner, W.A. Green, J.T. Holden, D. Middleton and T.G. Rogers. Van Nostrand Reinhold, Wokingham, 1977. xiv + 400 pages, ISBN 0-442-30206-1, cloth, £12.50; ISBN 0-442-30208-8, paper, £5.50.

This is the second of a two-volume series designed for undergraduate en- gineers in the last two years of their honours degree course. The first volume contains the core subjects studied by most engineers. The present volume con- tains those topics more usually studied as optional subjects in the final year. These comprise linear, non-linear and dynamic programming, estimation and inference in statistics, complex variables, integral transforms, ordinary dif- ferential equations, the numerical solution of differential equations and vari- ational methods.

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Computer programming is not included, because the authors believe that this is best taught at individual institutions where it can be made machine specific -- a sensible view when the vast number of computing systems in higher education are considered.

The book is well written and the extensive experience of the authors shows through. The equality of emphasis on both analytical and numerical aspects is appreciated and the mathematics is related to applications in engineering, where possible. Worked examples are distributed liberally throughout the book and the set problems at the end of each chapter are also supplied with answers at the end of the hook.

I think that it is one of the better compendium volumes now on the market, but unfortunately all compendium volumes tend to be frustrating, because in- to each chapter authors condense that which is treated (even pragmatically) in complete texts elsewhere. This is well demonstrated in the chapter on numerical analysis where the authors try to summaxise, in about eight pages, much of the information contained in G.D. Smith's classical work on the numerical solution of partial differential equations. Thus, to do anything but the most straightforward problems, readers must resort to Smith. Be that as it may, this double-volume series should prove very useful to all second and final year honours engineering students and I would certainly recommend it.

MARK CROSS

A Short Course in Industrial Design by Eskild Tjalve, Newnes-Butterworths, Sevenoaks, Kent, 1979, first published in Denmark in 1976 as "Systematisk Udforming af Industriprodukter". 246 × 189 mm, 207 pages, 201 illus., cased price £7.95, ISBN 0-408~)0388-X.

This is a book of about 200 pages, but there cannot be much more than 25 pages of text, the rest being occupied by freehand diagrams, plates and blank spaces. There is very little discussion of the plates, which are well chosen and potentially very interesting. For example, there are two pictures of the J.C.B. articulated loader shovel, with no comment except that one is said to be "built up of pronounced form elements". Thus, the "short" in the title is not deceptive.

The author is a senior lecturer in the Department of Engineering Design at the Technical University of Denmark, but in spite of (or just possibly because of?.) this, he confines the role of industrial design very narrowly, barely con- sidering function at all, and this seems likely to conflict with his avowed hope of "filling a gap in the literature connected with the teaching of engineering design in the schools of engineering", for it will tend to confirm students in the view that industrial design is largely cosmetic. The only aspect of function which is much treated is that of "f~nctional surfaces". In a study of the moving jaw of a vice, the functional surfaces include those of the two holes