So close to completion of my book on applied fluid dynamics. It’s due to my editor on Monday and the thing that takes me a bit by surprise is how much I love this book. Still. It’s the book I envisioned at the start. It’s a book that fills a niche — I know this for a fact because I looked everywhere for a book like this when I was trying to understand fluid dynamics in nature and in practice.
The Book, as we refer to it at home, has four sections. The first is about fluid dynamic principles in action. It covers aquatic animals, mans attempts to imitate the fish and the birds, and flight. The second section covers the theorists in hydrodynamics and aerodynamics. It fits it all together so you can see how the work of one laid the foundation for the others. The third section covers scale model testing from William Froude through the Wright Brothers. It also covers prototyping with Goddard. The last section covers computational fluid dynamics.
It’s not a highly technical book; it’s intended to be accessible to non-scientists. For pure elegance, nothing can touch Adair’s “The Physics of Baseball,” but this book sings to me. After all this time and effort, I’m delighted that’s still the case.
Pingback: Rounding Third | Synthesis