University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

I have been teaching earthquake design of buildings here at Penn State for 10 years, and so far I have not been able to find a book more fitting and suitable for the course than this one. An important reason is that the subject demands expertise in many areas including seismology; geotechnical engineering; dynamics of structure; earthquake resistant design principles; seismic design of steel, concrete, wood, and masonry structures; and seismic retrofit and upgrade principles. To write this book, Dr. Naeim collaborated with several other experts in the field of earthquake engineering. Not only does it treat essential topics in an elegant manner, several other advanced or evolving topics such as seismic base isolation, performance-based seismic engineering, and design of nonstructural components have also been discussed at length to provide a wealth of knowledge in one volume.

In general, handbooks are more useful for professionals as reference documents. However, this book is written such that students in particular can benefit from it as a textbook. This aspect makes the book special: while it covers a wide spectrum of topics, it is still student-friendly. The second edition is the result of significant expansion and enhancement of the first edition published in 1989. It is expected that the current edition and hopefully future editions will continue to be unrivaled in this challenging field for students and professionals worldwide.