Mechanics of Machines

I teach kinematics at the University of New Hampshire and have used Doughty's Mechanics of Machines for a number of years. It is, in my opinion, the best available textbook for teaching students how to analyze complex kinematic linkages using modern computer based methods. This book was originally published by Wiley and was out of print for while, so I am thrilled to see that it is now available again. Every year, I would look at all the available kinematics textbooks to see if I could find a better book, but was never able to do so. Why is it a good book for today's student? 1. It is based on the same methods that commercial kinematic analysis software uses; namely matrix representation of linkages. 2. The methods are applicable to simple problems, but extensible to very complex problems. The same basic method used for single-degree-of-freedom linkages can be extended to multiple degree of freedom cases. 3. The text introduces students to mathematical methods that are broadly useful - namely matrix methods, newton-raphson solution of non-linear algebraic equations and runge-kutta for numerical solution of ordinary differential equations. 4. The solution of the dynamics using Eksergian's equation is not found in any other textbook that I know of, and is an elegant energy based method for solving system dynamics. Energy based methods have lots of advantages; I particularly liked the chapter on virtual work. The Chapters on kinematic analysis of linkages and energy based solutions of dynamics (Ch 2,3,6,7,8) are excellent. The Chapter on cams (Ch 4) is just o.k. and I have never covered the Chapter on gears(Ch 5) so can't comment on it. The book is not perfect and I hope that the author will revise it. It would benefit from translating the sample computer programs in the appendices and elsewhere into MatLab and/or Mathcad. I have used MathCad extensively with my course and it has capabilities which nicely complement the text's approach; namely symbolic algebra for doing differentiation, "given-find" for solving the non-linear algebraic equations to get position, and extensive time domain solution of the differential equations. I would also suggest updating the problems at the end of the chapters. Overall, this is an excellent book for both the student and practitioner of kinematic analysis. I recommend it highly.