subject: Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering [print this page] Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering offers a descriptive, elementary introduction to geotechnical engineering with applications to civil engineering practice.
I used this book in my first soils course in college. Thirteen years after graduating I still use on a regular basis. The book starts from the basics and covers many topics which are quite advanced for an introductory book. The writing is concise and easily understood.
I was first introduced to this book as a grad student in the early 80s and I still use it to teach my graduate soil mechanics course today. It is as comprehensive as any soil mechanics text out there. Their treatment of shear strength is magnificent and worth the price of the book alone. There is a tremendous amount of information crammed into this book, but it remains very readable throughout.
Some of the other reviews miss the essential point that Holtz and Kovacs is a pure theoretical soil mechanics text, not an applied soils text. You won't get much use out of it on the PE exam, but I guarantee it will help you to better understand soil behavior.
I hope the reviewer who rated the book one star doesn't consider himself a geotechnical engineer. To state that book is not good because it was not useful on the PE exam is laughable. This text presents essential concepts and methodolgies that are needed in the field of geotechnical engineering. The chapters on the shear strength of cohesionless truyen cuoi hay nhat and cohesive soils as well as stress paths is worth the money alone. The three most important things in geotechnical engineering are shear strength, shear strength, shear strength. A geotechnical engineer needs to have complete understanding of the shear strength soils. If all you want to accomplish is to pass the PE exam, then like the reviewer said, look elsewhere.
I got this book in a flash. The seller made a mistake with my order by sending me a better copy than I order and was nice enough to inform me that I would not be getting the paperback I order, but a hard cover, still at the same price which was very nice. I am not sure I would have noticed that I ordered a paperback since all I needed was a book and urgently.
