Pook, Les (L.P. Pook)

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Pook, Les (L.P. Pook)

ADDRESSES:

Home—England. Office—University College London, Mechanical Engineering, Torrington Pl., London WC1E 7JE, England. E-mail—Les.pook@tcso.net.

CAREER:

University College London, London, England, visiting professor.

WRITINGS:

(As L.P. Pook; with N.E. Frost and K.J. Marsh) Metal Fatigue, Clarendon Press (Oxford, England), 1974, Dover Publications (Mineola, NY), 1999.

(As L.P. Pook) The Role of Crack Growth in Metal Fatigue, Metals Society (London, England), 1983.

(As L.P. Pook) Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics for Engineers: Theory and Applications, WIT Press (Boston, MA), 2000.

(As L.P. Pook) Crack Paths, WIT Press (Boston, MA), 2002.

Flexagons Inside Out, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Metal Fatigue: What It Is, Why It Matters, Springer (Dordrecht, Holland), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Les Pook is a mechanical engineer who is known for a series of books that he has written or cowritten on various subjects pertaining to issues of metal fatigue and the flexibility of other materials. Metal Fatigue is considered by many to be the definitive text on the subject. The concept of metal fatigue refers to what happens when stress and time wear away at a metal structure and cause parts of it to fail, whether through cracks or collapse or some other symptom. The book addresses the history of the concept, beginning with the earliest development of research into metal fatigue and continuing on to discuss various aspects of the syndrome. Along the way, several issues are addressed, including specific ways in which metal fatigue can affect a structure and different actions that will cause or encourage the development of metal fatigue. The book also includes information regarding how to detect fatigue and the machines used to test for it. Follow-up volumes include The Role of Crack Growth in Metal Fatigue and Crack Paths. Metal Fatigue: What It Is, Why It Matters serves as a more updated guide to the phenomenon, as well as a primer for individuals seeking a basic knowledge of metal fatigue in order to grasp other, more complicated writings on the subject.

In Flexagons Inside Out, Pook veers from his standard subject and takes a look at these hinged polynomials that are noted for developing new pairs of faces, depending on how they are flexed. The book discusses the history of these objects, from earliest detection through examples of how they are commonly used in toys and games. Read This! MAA Online Book Review contributor Robert McGuigan dubbed the volume "the most extensive and thorough study of flexagons available." He went on to conclude that it is "a valuable contribution to the literature, collecting in one place various scattered and difficult-to-find results in a user-friendly way."