It would be generally agreed that an undergraduate course on vibrations and waves should lead the student to a thorough understanding of the basic concepts, demonstrate how these concepts unify a wide variety of familiar physics, and open doors to some more advanced topics on which they shed light. The fundamental ideas can be introduced with reference to mechanical systems which are easy to visualize and to illustrate; less tangible phenomena can then be treated with the same mathematics, leaving one free to concentrate on more interesting problems of formulation and interpretation.

In such a course there is always a risk that springs and strings will take over completely, submerging the real physics. The theory must be developed with some care and thoroughness if the student is to comprehend it in sufficient depth to be able to apply it readily, and all too often the physics has to be left half baked. This textbook is an attempt to provide, in a volume of moderate size, an account which is systematic and coherent, but which also treats the physical examples in some depth.

The diagram on p. viii shows the plan of the book, and indicates the relative weights attached to fundamental and illustrative material. The theoretical development (indicated by the downward flow through the toned areas on the left) is continuous, but is punctuated by regular excursions into physics.