Batra (engineering science and mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U.) here expands notes he has used for several years in the first course in continuum mechanics for beginning graduate students, and suggests that the material can be covered in a 14-week semester. The chapter on mathematical preliminaries could be skipped in class depending on the background of the students, he says, and used only as a reference. Other topics include kinematics, constitutive relations, fluid flow, wave propagation, and spherical and cylindrical pressure vessels. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)