John Bird is the former Head of Applied Electronics in the Faculty of Technology at Highbury College, Portsmouth, UK. More recently, he has combined freelance lecturing at the University of Portsmouth with Examiner responsibilities for Advanced Mathematics with City and Guilds and examining for the International Baccalaureate Organisation. He is the author of over 135 textbooks on engineering and mathematical subjects with worldwide sales of over one million copies. He is a chartered engineer, a chartered mathematician, a chartered scientist and a Fellow of three professional institutions and is currently lecturing at the Defence School of Marine Engineering in the Defence College of Technical Training at H.M.S. Sultan, Gosport, Hampshire, UK, one of the largest technical training establishments in Europe.

Carl Ross gained his first degree in Naval Architecture from King's College, Durham University, his PhD in Structural Engineering from the Victoria University of Manchester, and was awarded his DSc in Ocean Engineering from the CNAA, London. His research in the field of engineering led to advances in the design of submarine pressure hulls. His publications and guest lectures to date exceed some 300 papers, books, etc., and he was Professor of Structural Dynamics at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Carl Ross's websites have an enormous content on science, technology and education.

Part One: Revision of Mathematics. 1. Revisionary mathematics. Revision Test 1 Revisionary mathematics. 2. Further revisionary mathematics. Revision Test 2 Further revisionary mathematics. Part Two: Statics and Strength of Materials. 3. The effects of forces on materials. 4. Tensile testing. 5. Forces acting at a point. 6. Simply supported beams. Revision Test 3 Forces, tensile testing and beams. 7. Forces in structures. 8. Bending moment and shear force diagrams. 9. First and second moments of area. Revision Test 4 Forces in structures, bending moment and shear force diagrams, and second moments of area. 10. Bending of beams. 11. Torque. 12. Twisting of shafts. Revision Test 5 Bending of beams, torque and twisting of shafts. 13. An introduction to matrix algebra. 14. The matrix displacement method. Part Three: Dynamics. 15. Linear and angular motion. 16. Linear momentum and impulse. 17. Force, mass and acceleration. 18. Work, energy and power. Revision Test 6 Linear and angular motion, momentum and impulse, force, mass and acceleration, work, energy and power. 19. Friction. 20. Motion in a circle. 21. Simple harmonic motion. 22. Simple machines. Revision Test 7 Friction, motion in a circle, simple harmonic motion and simple machines. Part Four: Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics. 22. Heat energy and transfer. 24. Thermal expansion. Revision Test 8 Heat energy and transfer, and thermal expansion. 25. Hydrostatics. 26. Fluid flow. 27. Ideal gas laws. 28. The measurement of temperature. Revision Test 9 Hydrostatics, fluid flow, gas laws and temperature measurement. A list of formulae for mechanical engineering principles. Metric to Imperial conversions and vice versa. Greek alphabet. Glossary of terms. Answers to multiple-choice questions. Index.