Internal combustion Engines Applied Thermosciences

By Mitchell P. Thomas -

First the positive aspects of this book. It's somewhat recent (2001), which makes it at least a decade newer than Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals (Heywood) and The Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice: Vol. 1 - 2nd Edition, Revised: Thermodynamics, Fluid Flow, Performance and Internal Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice: Vol. 2 - 2nd Edition, Revised: Combustion, Fuels, Materials, Design (the Taylor books). It has more information about computer modeling, which is a reflection of the times. It also has references to the publisher's website to use various online tools and references, which I don't like at all, but someone probably likes.

Now the negative: First; its main advantage, which is that it's new, isn't much of one. The only things that have changed appreciably in engines in the last 50 years are metallurgy and controls, neither of which are addressed in this book. For the price of this book, one could by either Heywood or the Taylor set, both of which are much more detailed. The page counts are a clue; this book weighs in at under 400 pages, while Heywood is 900 and the Taylor set is over a thousand. This book frequently references Heywood and Taylor, so why not go straight to the source? This book, as other reviewers have noted, has extensive errata. If you don't like to proofread textbooks, buy Heywood or Taylor.