May, I954.]
BOOK REVIEWS
text in many engineering courses on forging practice. Since closed die forgings are used for high quality parts in such important mechanisms as automobile and aircraft engines, steering mechanisms, power transmission, tractors and others, it is important for today's engineers to understand the processes involved, and the properties of the forged pieces. Here, in one brief volume, are the answers. ELEMENTARY FLUID MECHANICS, by John K. Vennard. Third edition, 401 pages, diagrams, 15 × 22 cm. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1954. Price, $5.50. The author has thoroughly revised this beginning text, increasing the topical coverage by about ten per cent. An introductory chapter on the one dimensional fluid flow has been added; some three hundred new problems have been added and about a hundred and fifty of the former problems have been deleted. Intended for a third year course in engineering, the text requires a knowledge of differential and integral calculus, statics, and dynamics. The revision brings a worthwhile text up-to-date.
APPLIED ELECTRONICS, by Truman S. Gray. Second edition,881 pages, diagrams, 16 X 24 cm. N e w York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,and The Technology Press (M.I.T.) ; London, Chapman & Hail, Ltd.; 1954. Price, $9.00. First published in 1943, this standard work has now been revised to bring the material up-to-date, particularly with reference to the transistor. Retaining, in general, the plan of the first edition, the revised version is intended as a basic course in the applications of electronics--in power, communications, measurement, control, etc.
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Used as a whole, the text is suitable for a two-semester course; however, it is so arranged that, by using several of the chapters as 'outside' reading material, the text may be used in a one semester course emphasizing circuit applications of electron tubes and semiconductor devices.
INORGANICSYNTHESES. VOLUMEIV, edited by John C. Bailar, Jr. 218 pages, 1 6 x 24 cm. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1953. Price, $5.00. Volume IV in this valuable series on methods of preparing inorganic compounds extends the work of the earlier volumes. Over fifty syntheses are treated, including specific directions for their preparation and precautions to be observed. This latest volume will be especially welcomed by research workers, but it should also prove very helpful for use in graduate courses. The syntheses are arranged according to the Mendeleev periodic classification, with subdivision into A and B groups. Nomenclature is the same as in Volumes II and III, and the index includes all four volumes.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: A BRIEF COURSE, by Robert Ward Getchell. 278 pages, 16 × 24 cm. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1954. Price, $4.00. Prepared as a one semester background course in organic chemistry for students majoring in home economics, nursing, agriculture, physical education and the like, this new text is up-to-date, simple, practical and brief. Illustrative material precedes generalizations and laws, and many applications of the principles are included. The text should adequately meet the requirements of the groups to which it is directed.