Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Fundamentals of Acoustics by Lawrence E. Kinsler, Austin R. Frey, Alan B. Coppens, James V. Sanders ISBN: 0-471-84789-5 Publisher: Wiley Text Books Pub. Date: 16 December, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $110.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: OK, but better texts available
Comment: Personally, I was disappointed by the fourth edition of this venerable text, for it has become increasingly mathematical and problem oriented. If you like sitting down and whiling away your afternoon with a problem set -- this is the text for you. But if instead you wish to study acoustics through a pedagogical method that is more verbal and graphical in nature -- better texts are available.
Indeed, in my opinion, prior editions (1950, 1962, 1981) of this same text are superior, particularly the second edition. Although these too have their share of integral calculus and complex algebra, the quantity is more appropriate for a discipline that is mostly science and engineering but with aspects of art to it as well.
Bear in mind that aside from a few specialized areas -- like ultrasonics and its use in medical imaging and non-destructive testing, or the use of digital processing in sound generation and vibration analysis -- little new has come about in the field of acoustics since World War II. Thus unlike with most fields of science, there is no necessity to have the most modern texts to gather a wholly modern understanding of the field (with a few minor exceptions).
Indeed, I recently examined almost every text relating to acoustics contained in the circumferential stacks of the Barker Engineering Library under the Great Dome of M.I.T. (and sadly, there aren't as many texts as one might hope). I was surprised both at the age of most volumes in the collection -- and the fact that most had not been checked out of the library in years.
Indeed, from the "Date Due" slips in the back, you could see the field was very popular in the 1960's and 1970's, but popularity seemed to wane in the early 1980's -- approximately contemporaneously, curiously, with the introduction of the digital CD format of audio recording.
By the mid-1990's, at M.I.T., at least, interest in acoustics among faculty and students seem to have declined precipitiously, if the popularity of library texts and the quantity of student theses published in the field is any indication.
Of all the general texts on acoustics that I examined -- to me, one clearly stood out above the others. It was published in 1957 by Harry F. Olsen, Ph.D., the lead acoustical scientist at the RCA Research Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. It is entitled, "Acoustical Engineering", although the text contains all the fundamental science as well. This volume was reprinted in 1991 and is currently available.
Olsen's work is surely a magnum opus, comprising 736 pages and 567 illustrations. It has its fair share of math, but the concepts are often additionally explained through well-crafted line drawings, showing, for example, wave forms drawn in progressive fashion in serial graphs, some of which are designed so that one can even mentally rotate the graphics to gather a three-dimensional perspective. Furthermore, the graphs are often supplemented by art showing equivalent mechanical and electrical analogs, to further assist in understanding.
Best of all, Olsen explains virtually everything acoustical you would ever want to know, from theories of acoustical wave propagation, to an enormous variety of loudspeaker designs, to the mathematical reasoning behind Johann Sebastian Bach's tempered tuning of musical instruments, an artistic practice that is almost universal today.
Thus if it is a text for a problem-oriented course in acoustics that one seeks -- the fourth edition of the "Fundamentals of Acoustics" is a fine text. However, if one wishes to have a ready reference that is extraordinarily comprehensive, or a pedagogical work that doesn't focus on mathematical derivations, better choices can surely be made.
Rating: 5
Summary: Solid Introductory Text Book
Comment: If you are interested in a solid introduction to the science of sound, then this is your book. Kinsler and Frey is not an advanced text, nor a reference manual for research scientists. It is simply a classic introduction to the physical principles of acoustics geared toward upper level undergraduates or graduate students.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not hard core
Comment: This book provides a good introduction to the subject, but I would not consider it hard core by any means. Morse is hard core, Pierce a far second in dificulty. Blackstock's book is superior. Blackstock provides a physical explanation of the theory of sound, Kinsler relies a bit too much on simple equations and does not provide insight into what the math is telling you. A good entry level book to use as a reference, and self study.
 |
Title: Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest ISBN: 0071360972 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics Pub. Date: 22 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
 |
Title: Fundamentals of Physical Acoustics by David T. Blackstock ISBN: 0471319791 Publisher: Interscience Pub. Date: 22 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $120.00 |
 |
Title: Theoretical Acoustics by Philip M. Morse, K. Uno Ingard ISBN: 0691024014 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 January, 1987 List Price(USD): $70.00 |
 |
Title: Psychoacoustics: Facts and Models (Springer Series in Information Sciences, 22) by Eberhard Zwicker, H. Fastl, H. Frater ISBN: 3540650636 Publisher: Springer Verlag Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $79.95 |
 |
Title: Architectural Acoustics : Principles and Practice by William J. Cavanaugh, Joseph A. Wilkes ISBN: 0471306827 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 02 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $99.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
