Thermodynamics and Fluids

Abstract

freehand sketch). Many footnotes have been deleted because they refer to classified material, and the frequent gaps at the bottoms of pages are a mute memorial to the many workers whose contributions to the theory will remain generally unknown. The long delay in the final publication of the book inevitably detracts a little from its worth. For example, the list of rockets for which design details are given has an air almost of antiquity, and it is noticeable that very few of the references are later than 1947. Also it is obvious that the book was virtually complete before the publication in 1949 of Rankin's "Theory of the Motion of Rotated and Unrotated Rockets", which indeed does not appear among the footnotes until p. 433, though it covers much of the same ground. Those who are familiar with Rankin's monograph will find that the book under review does not go so deeply into the fundamentals, and mathematically it is less rigorous ; but there is a much fuller explanation of the physical processes and more linking narrative. Indeed, the authors are to be congratulated on producing a book which, as well as being authoritative, is, considering the difficulty of the subject, easy to read.