Newnes Mechanical Engineer's Pocket Book

This book does have a lot of useful information for mechanical engineers but if your company, like mine, uses inches then all of the reference charts are not going to be applicable to you. Even for something as simple as finding the standard tolerances on a key is only provided in metric sizes. This is not the fault of the author but I do wish I had known this before I bought it. I gave the book 5 stars because that's what it would be if I was able to utilize all of it's content. Regardless, it is still a useful book with a lot of good information at a good price so I am not entirely dissatisfied with my purchase, though I might not recommend it to anyone else in my position.

This is a thick little book, but small enough (about 7 by 5 by 2inches?) to fit handily on top of other books, in a little draw or somewhere to hand. Covering a multitude of subjects from SI units, trigonometry, forces, levers, moments, material properties, motion, power transmission and a comprehensive list of bolts threads and other info, this little book does have probably all the basics and more for the learning/learned engineer. Containing a variety of simplified diagrams and brief explanations, there aren't massive sections of text to get lost in, even if there is a few good pages to get you started at the beginning of a topic to explain the subject matter. As someone just starting out, this was great for me, but I can imagine it would still be a good reference guide for those in the industry.

Ideal desk book for any quick references and calculations on Mechanical issues. Limited information but that goes with the size. Highly recommended.

You'll need big pockets for this - It's compact, but lots of pages, so very thick. Extremely comprehensive, and already being used on a BTEC Level 3 Engineering course, the depth of information will make sure that this "pocket" book will be used for many years to come in my workshop. There are other engineer's pocket books out there, they certainly contain the obvious information that's commonly used, but at little difference in the price, you get a lot more book for your money, and a lot more technical information. Look at the index on the book preview to see all the different aspects that the book covers.

I am constantly searching for a single, compact reference book that covers the majority of the information that I need in day-to-day work. I haven't found one yet and probably never will. This book is very comprehensive (at 3.5 cm thick it would need a very big "pocket") and appears to have chosen to concentrate on more practical information like standard fasteners, power transmission components, etc, and on the specification of these - making it useful for detail design, for instance. The section on the theoretical and mathematical underpinnings of engineering is relatively short, so it is of less use in the early stages of realising your latest brainchild. Like every engineer's reference book I have seen, it is also frustratingly inconsistent in the level of detail afforded to different topics. Having said all that though, it's far better than many other similar books I've looked at, is based on UK/European standards and represents good value for money compared to trying to claw some of the information contained in it from the BSI at exorbitant prices. If you were to combine this with more a more theoretical reference book, you'd probably have the best "pocket" reference library you could manage with what's currently available.