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This book is a unique publishing event in the field of fluid mechanics. Since its arrival, I have seen many small clusters of enraptured graduate students work through its rich offerings. The book contains 166 pages of photographs of fluid motion displaying a wide variety of phenomena, utilizing many different flow-visualization techniques. The only text beyond a short introduction are the figure captions, which contain a description of the phenomenon, an interpretation, and a reference to the original work or a credit. The phenomena include low Reynolds number flows, separation, vortices, flow instability, turbulence, free-surface flow, convection, subsonic flow, shock waves, and supersonic flow. The book has the power to excite and inform students about the complexity of possible fluid motions, arising even in simple geometries. Its price is low and its quality is so high that instructors can recommend it without reservation as a supplemental text or for independent study at both the undergraduate and graduate level. No faculty member who teaches fluid mechanics should be without a copy. The clothbound version would make an ideal gift or coffeetable book for any one with an interest in the natural sciences. The high artistic quality of many of the photographs will also appeal to those of a more general audience who chance to come upon this book. One unfortunate feature is the absence of color photographs. Although there are many such photos available, which would have added to the appeal of the book, it is clear that they would have increased the cost well beyond the current price. This book, at this price, is certainly to be recommended.

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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Entropy generation minimization (finite time thermodynamics, or thermodynamic optimization) is the method that combines into simple models the most basic concepts of heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics. These simple models are used in the optimization of real (irreversible) devices and processes, subject to finite-size and finite-time constraints. The review traces the development and adoption of the method in several sectors of mainstream thermal engineering and science: cryogenics, heat transfer, education, storage systems, solar power plants, nuclear and fossil power plants, and refrigerators. Emphasis is placed on the fundamental and technological importance of the optimization method and its results, the pedagogical merits of the method, and the chronological development of the field.

The second law aspects of heat transfer by forced convection are illustrated in terms of four fundamental flow configurations: pipe flow, boundary layer over flat plate, single cylinder in cross-flow, flow in the entrance region of a flat rectangular duct. The interplay between irreversibility due to heat transfer along finite temperature gradients and, on the other hand, irreversibility due to viscous effects is analyzed in detail. The spatial distribution of irreversibility, entropy generation profiles or maps, and those flow features acting as strong sources of irreversibility are presented. It is shown how the flow geometric parameters may be selected in order to minimize the irreversibility associated with a specific convective heat transfer process.

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