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CHOICE Review

Martin (Univ. of Oxford, UK) offers an ideal, didactic book to introduce structural and mechanical engineers to the field of materials, enabling them to understand the criteria for materials selection without unnecessary details. The book is divided into two parts, one on materials characterization and the other on structure/property relationships, and there are six chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 treat the structure and mechanical property evaluation of engineering materials; the following three chapters focus on metals and alloys, ceramics and glasses, and polymeric materials. Finally, chapter 6 discusses polymer matrix composites and metal matrix composites, and their processing, structure, and properties. Each chapter ends with a reading list and a list of references. At the end of the book are a comprehensive list of problems, various useful tables of constants, unit conversion factors, and sources of material property data, and a final, detailed index. The book is clearly and comprehensibly written with excellent, informative illustrations, and is very well presented and bound. Valuable to upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals in engineering. T. Z. Kattamis University of Connecticut