[The articles of this volume will not be reviewed individually.] Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rudolf Trostel’s 60-th anniversary volume covers a wide range of mechanical problems that clearly represent the variety of the productive period of this scientist. Preceded by an introduction by Trostel’s friend K. Sattler, the book contains sixteen selected papers written by colleagues, former disciples and associates on continuum mechanical topics, various problems from shell theories and civil engineering, as well as general remarks on mechanics. In particular, the papers on continuum mechanics start from general articles like “Remarks on the comparison of classical and relativistic balances” by {\it G. Brunk} (in German) and “Sears-Kestin statement and Clausius inequality” by {\it W. Muschik} (in English) and lead to certain constitutive models such as “A constitutive theory of frictional systems” by {\it A. Bertram} and {\it R. Sampaio} (in English) or “Non- local non-polar or locally polar with kinematic constraints ?” by {\it G. Silber} (in German). In addition, several papers on boundary value problems and extremum principles including numerical aspects illustrate the application of continuum mechanical theories to discrete problems, for example, “Problems and solution strategies of some applications of continuum physics in engineering practice” by {\it A. Krawietz} (in German), “Complementary extremum principles in the geometrically nonlinear theory of curved bars” by {\it H. Bufler} and {\it R. Lautenbach} (in German), “Dualities and complementarities in continuous and discrete systems of the potential and elasticity theories” by {\it G. Rieder} (in German) and “The hydrodynamic influences of missing wall adhesion on lubricant flow in friction bearing” by {\it H. E. Siekmann} (in German). Furthermore, the identification of material constant is described by {\it J. Olschewski} in “The determination of the elastic constants of cubically monocrystalline materials as an example of system identification” (in German); an interesting problem relating the motion of waves to the motion of material points is discussed by {\it P. Haupt} in his article “On the analogy of the motion of mass points and waves in classical mechanics” (in German). Apart from the above-mentioned articles, which are more or less related to continuum mechanical problems, the volume contains two additional papers on shell theories, namely, “On the compatibility conditions of the disk” by {\it W. Raak} (in German) and “Stress-resultants of thickness-elastic shells” by {\it H. Schoop} (in German), as well as mathematical problems, such as “An excursion to the Ljapunov-equation and related problems” by {\it S. Falk} (in German) or {\it P. Gummert}’s article on the tuning of muscial instruments (in German) which has the only title that should not be translated into English: “Alles Stimmungssache ?!”. Moreover, {\it D. Hilliges}’ paper, “Development and application of the balastless slab track for railway high speed lines” (in German), gives a good example of the application of mechanics to civil engineering problems of current interest. Finally, the remarks on “Glamour and misery of mechanics” by {\it H. J. Wirz} (in German) offer some critical aspects on the general topic with a special emphasis on “rational mechanics”. The articles included in Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rudolf Trostel’s 60-th anniversary volume are written on a high scientific level, thus representing an excellent survey on recent research in the fields of theoretical and applied mechanics. The personal style of the papers moreover reflects the friendly atmosphere governing the relations between the different authors and Prof. Trostel.
Reviewer: W.Ehlers