Aerodynamics: Selected Topics in the Light of Their Historical Development (Dover Books on Aeronautical Engineering)

My advanced degrees are not in Aerodynamics but my oldest daughter is an art educator, historian and practicing artist and we have had an ongoing dialog pertaining to Karman Vortex Streets as they appear to various works of art, with particular attention to Vincent van Gogh' s "Starry Night". Much to my delight, Prof. von Karman provides antidotal information as to how his name became associated with Karman Vortex Streets which he did not discover but apparently popularized. In addition, he recounts the oldest art works he has seen which depict Karman Vortex Streets, so my daughter will have another verified historical reference for her growing art history bibliography. There is a lot of history in the book and the math is presented in an understandable format.When I stumbled upon Prof. von Karman textbook at Amazon, the use of the term “Print Replica Kindle Book” was unfamiliar, but from the description it sounded very much like Adobe PDF with OCR enabled, inside a AZW wrapper. I requested a free sample and found that AZW4 file worked flawlessly with Kindle Readers on Kindle Fire, Kindle for Android and Kindle for Windows. The text images were obviously scanned but the OCR conversion first rate. Electronic textbooks have always been a problem but Amazon has made some very sound design tradeoffs with the Print Replicas format. This is a fantastic solution for making legacy out-of-print documents available in easy to use electronic formats. Let’s be honest EPUB, MOBI and PDF all have problems but AZW4, while not perfect, is a good step forward.I review most of the Amazon advertisements I receive but Kindle Print Replicas were new to me. The term I was aware of was Kindle Textbooks but failed make the connection with legacy books, in which I am very interested. Has Amazon considered a wish list for Print Replica inclusion? But why stop with books, what about old magazines? What about a few free books which demonstrate Print Replica functionality?I highly recommend this 60 year old textbook to the Amazon community. What is old is new again!

This text is well written and most of the concepts are explained in sufficient detail, based on the information available at that time, for someone new to the field. There are also some interesting bits from the authors past that I found entertaining and insightful.

von Kármán knew almost every great fundamental theorist in aerodynamics personally and it shows. Great book!

Thanks a lot for your kindness and goods

This book was originally published more than 50 years ago. Some things, such as our understanding of supersonic flight and rocketry, have changed quite a bit since that time. However, much of aerodynamics was well understood in the 1950's. This book does what it claims very well. It describes the basics of aerodynamics and provides some history of how our understanding developed.I also recommend 'Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators', originally published by the US Navy, as another classic book that can provide one with a good foundation, but does not require extensive advanced math.

Long out of print, this gem of a book is once again available thanks to Dover Publications. The text corresponds to the author's Messenger Lectures at Cornell University in the spring of 1953. An overview of the history of aerodynamic thought, aimed at the non-specialist as well as students of aeronautics, the book conveys the essential ideas in our understanding of the science of flight. Written at a time when supersonic flight was but six years old and orbital spaceflight was four years in the future, the book remains remarkably fresh. The text is enlivened by von Karman's wit and reminiscences of many of the greats of twentieth century aerodynamics. The references at the end of each of the six chapters, many extending into the nineteenth century, are a delightful bonus, underlining how our present aerodynamic theory has roots that extend well before the advent of heavier-than-air flight. Only the author's speculation on the potential of spaceflight is dated. Yet even this provides a fascinating window into the mind of one of the masters of aeronautics. Highly recommended.

Writing was excellent, making complex issues easy to understand. Some graphs or photographs were poorly reproduced from the original to the point of being totally unviewable..

Nice little book for beach or summer reading for engineers. No formulas, just text, anecdotes and history. A nice little book indeed.

A impressão do livro poderia ser melhor.

Theodore Von Karman è uno dei mostri sacri nella storia della ricerca aerodinamica.In questo libro dimostra tutta la sua capacità di descrivere fenomeni complessi in un linguaggio comprensibile a tutti.Un libro che, anche se datato, non può mancare sullo scaffale di chi si occupa della materia o di chi è curioso di conoscerla.

A comprehensive view at the development of aerodynamics. It gives a good historical context for the study of aerodynamics.

Classic text by an expert, and easy to read.

この本はカルマン渦で有名な著者による飛行機の開発の歴史が記述されている。読者は一般人を対象としているようでむつかしい数式は最小限にとどめ、かわりにめずらしい写真やシンプルな挿画がおおい。とくに第３章のカルマン渦の発見の経緯は本人しかかけない逸話が記述されており、これだけでも一読の価値がある。