Sanjay Govindjee is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (1993-2006, 2008-present). His main interests are in theoretical and computational mechanics with an emphasis on micromechanics, shape memory alloys, and elastomers. Prior to joining Berkeley he worked as an engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1991-1993) in Livermore, California. He was also Professor of Mechanics (2006-2008) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Noteworthy honours include a National Science Foundation Career Award, the inaugural 1998 Zienkiewicz Prize and Medal, an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship, a Berkeley Chancellor's Professorship 2006-2011, and a guest Professorship at ETH Zurich 2008-2013.

Running counter to the trend in undergraduate texts in engineering solid mechanics, Govindjees exposition is compelling for the manner in which it reveals the underlying principles behind the resulting equations. Well written, concise, and insightful, the approach encourages an understanding of fundamental concepts critical to the development of mathematical models in engineering mechanics. The book is highly recommended as a refreshingly intellectual take on a classic topic.

• 1. Introduction ; 2. Tension-Compression Bars: The One Dimensional Case ; 3. Stress ; 4. Strain ; 5. Constitutive Response ; 6. Techniques ; 7. Circular and Thin-Wall Torsion ; 8. Bending of Beams ; 9. Multi-Axial Analysis ; 10. Virtual Work Methods: Virtual Forces ; 11. Potential Energy Methods ; 12. Geometric Instability ; 13. Virtual Work Methods: Virtual Displacements ; Appendix A: Additional Reading ; Appendix B: Units, Constants, and Symbols ; Appendix C: Representative Material Properties ; Appendix D: Parallel Axis Theorem ; Appendix E: Integration Facts ; Appendix F: Bending without Twisting: Shear Center ; Index