Theory of Optimum Aerodynamic Shapes, A. Miele, e d i t o r .

Academic P r e s s , New York, 1965. x i x + 4 5 5 p a g e s . U . S . $16.50.

Subtitled, " E x t r e m a l P r o b l e m s in the Aerodynamics of

Supersonic, Hypersonic, and F r e e - M o l e c u l a r Flows", this book
is a collection of p a p e r s by the following authors: A. Miele,
G. Drougge, R. E . P r i t c h a r d , C. F e r r a r i , R. T . Jones, A. H.
Lusty, J r . , G. V. R. Rao, K. G. Guderley, J. V. A r m i t a g e ,
W. D. Hayes, D. G. Hull, J. D. Cole, A. J. E g g e r s , J r . ,
E . L a r g e , A. E . Bryson, J r . , G. G. Chernyi, A. L. Gonor,
G. R. S a a r i s , R. Bellman, Hao Sung Tan.

Stability of Motion, by Wolfgang Hahn. Springer-Verlag,

New York I n c . , 1967. U . S . $ 1 9 . 8 0 .

It is a common and often disreputable p r a c t i c e among

technical book r e v i e w e r s to quote at length from the books they
r e v i e w . However, every so often a truly first rate book is written
on some topic and, in this r e v i e w e r ' s opinion, the author, who
laboured over the m a n u s c r i p t , can e x p r e s s the purpose of the book
m o r e clearly than this hack, who is reviewing the book just to save
$19.80. P r o f e s s o r Hahn's book is indeed a first rate introduction
to the theory of stability of motion and I shall let him explain its
purpose himself. The following is quoted from the p r e f a c e :

"The theory of the stability of motion has gained i n c r e a s i n g

significance in the last decades as is apparent from the large
number of publications on the subject. A considerable p a r t of this
work is concerned with p r a c t i c a l p r o b l e m s , especially p r o b l e m s
from the a r e a of controls and s e r v o - m e c h a n i s m s , and concrete
p r o b l e m s from engineering w e r e the ones which first gave the
decisive impetus for the expansion and modern development of
stability t h e o r y .

In c o m p a r i s o n with the many single publications, which a r e

numbered in the thousands, the number of books on stability theory,
and especially books not w r i t t e n in Russian, is e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y s m a l l .

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