Book excerpt: The translation into English of Academician Fedorov's ex cellent treatise on elastic wave propagation in solids has come at an opportune time. His systematic exposition of all aspects of this field is most lucid and straightforward. The author has gone to considerable pains to develop in his mathematical background a consistent tensor framework which acts as a unifying motif through out the various aspects of the subject. In many respects his approach will appear quite novel as his treatment introduces several concepts and parameters previously unfamiliar to the literature of the West. Extensive tables in the final chapters illustrate the application of these ideas to the exist ing body of experimental data. The book is both extensive and comprehensive in al1 phases of the subject. Workers in the fields of ultrasonic propagation and elastic properties will find this treatise of great interest and direct concern. H. B. Huntington Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, New York November 1967 v Preface to the American Edition In preparing this edition I have corrected various misprints and errors appearing in the Russian edition, but I have also incorpo rated some substantial changes and additions, the latter representing some results I and my colleagues have recently obtained and pub_ lished in Russian journals. For example, in section 32 I have added a general derivation of the equation for the seetion of the wave surface by a symmetry plane for cubic, hexagonal, tetragonal, and orthorhombic crystals.