This is a solid text as a first course in Mechanical Vibrations and a good follow on from a first course in Applied Mechanics.

The text provides excellent example problems and an excellent collection of end-of chapter problems.The chapter introduction and summaries are excellent for motivating and recapping the material. Overall, I think the text is very sound.

This is an excellent text. In my opinion its real strength is that it introduces nonlinear dynamics at an early stage as a natural concept. Too many texts focus just on the linear dynamics, and treat nonlinearity as some anomalous behavior to be considered at the end of the text. Here, the authors give the subject the treatment it deserves and in a non-intimidating manner.

Dr. Balachandran received his B. Tech (Naval Architecture) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, M.S. (Aerospace Engineering) from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA and Ph.D. (Engineering Mechanics) from Virginia Tech. Currently, he is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, where has been since 1993. His research interests include nonlinear phenomena, dynamics and vibrations, and control, and his recent efforts have focused on taking advantage of nonlinear phenomena for the benefit of a system. The publications that he has authored/co-authored include over fifty journal publications and several textbooks. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Vibration and Control, is a Deputy Editor of the AIAA Journal, and is an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics. He is a Fellow of ASME, an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and a member of AAM, ASA, Sigma Xi, and SPIE. He served as the Chair of the ASME Applied Mechanics Division Technical Committee on Dynamics and Control of Structures and Systems from 2005 to 2007, and he currently serves as the Chair of the ASME Design Engineering Division Technical Committee on Multi-Body Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics.

Dr. Magrab is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. He has conducted extensive research in the areas of vibrations and acoustics, and recently, his research efforts have focused on the integration of design and manufacturing. He joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering after spending more than twelve years at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, where he held several supervisory positions including Chief of the Sound Section. Prior to going to NIST, he was a Professor of Mechanics at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. He has authored numerous journal publications and six books on subjects including vibrations, noise control, dynamic measurements, integrated design, and MATLAB. Sijthoff and Noordhoff published his graduate level textbook VIBRATIONS OF ELASTIC STRUCTURAL MEMBERS in 1979. Dr. Magrab is a fellow of ASME and a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Maryland.