Finite Element Analysis Simply Explained

The book: "Finite Element Analysis Simply Explained" did not meet my expectation at all. The topics/concepts are not simply explained as indicated in the title. I am disappointed. I wish I could return the book.

I've tried to learn the FEM from several different sources. These include YouTube videos, websites, textbooks and I had even asked some recent engineering graduates. Most sources either did a poor job of explaining it (skipping steps for example) or required hundreds of pages. Many engineering students also struggle to understand the method (or quickly forget it after passing their structural analysis course). It's a very tricky subject and therefore I was skeptical whether or not such a small book would help me on the subject. It's a relatively cheap book so I figured why not. Sure enough it turns out that this is by far the best resource on Finite Element (that I've ever come across and I've searched quite a bit) if you're looking for a 'simple' and concise explanation.

I agree entirely with all said by the reviewer from Canada. The book is a very good price, and the review convinced me it would be very worthwhile to read. The book author is an Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University, and he says very clearly in the succinct “Preface” that he wrote the book for engineers who have no previous experience with FE but would like to learn the fundamentals. I am an engineer, so I felt very comfortable with the book because it is written in the style I was “taught in”. The book covers a “lot of ground” in 100 pages. I will say that when I read it the first time, I was disappointed that I did not understand it as much as I expected. However, that’s because it’s a complicated subject. It only took me a few hours to read the book, so I have read it again twice, and understand more each time. Also, it takes time to spot “patterns” and learn “terminology”. I can now appreciate what a superb and unique book this is. FE has become a very important subject for engineering, and the book does contains the “essence” of the topic, which I have not found elsewhere. And, I can now make much more sense of discussions of FE that I see elsewhere.