Fracture and Life

Fracture is a subject that reaches beyond the field of fracture mechanics, according to Brian Cotterell (School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, U. of Sydney, Australia). The notion of fracture as fundamental in nature and in many endeavors of science and culture--is poetic; and although this is not a book about poetry, it is an invitation to engineers to look with wonder at the role of fracture characteristics and the impact on history as humans have come to understand and exploit those characteristics. This exploration of the subject is imaginative and cross-disciplinary in its approach, yet does not neglect the hard science. It begins with an introduction to basic solid mechanisms, including discussion of what holds a solid together, stress and strain, elastic deformation, plastic deformation, and strength resilience. That first section ends with the implications of simple fracture behavior as observed with page tearing, the sardine can problem, divergent concertinas tears, and wiggly cuts. Following are chapters on the evolution of the earth, of life, of humans, and of stone tools, as well as coverage of stone and concrete in the ancient world through modern times, and the fundamentals of fracture and metal fracture from 1950 to the present. The volume is distributed by World Scientific. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)