Book excerpt: Developed from three decades' worth of lecture notes which the author used to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this unique textbook presents a comprehensive treatment of structural dynamics and mechanical vibration. The chapters in this book are self-contained so that instructors can choose to be selective about which topics they teach. Written with an application-based focus, the text covers topics such as earthquake engineering, soil dynamics, and relevant numerical methods techniques that use MATLAB. Advanced topics such as the Hilbert transform, gyroscope forces, and spatially periodic structures are also treated extensively. Concise enough for an introductory course yet rigorous enough for an advanced or graduate-level course, this textbook is also a useful reference manual - even after the final exam - for professional and practicing engineers.