Editorial Review:
After every major earthquake, the Earth rings like a bell for several days. These free oscillations of the Earth and the related propagating body and surface waves are routinely detected at broad-band seismographic stations around the world. In this book, F. A. Dahlen and Jeroen Tromp present an advanced theoretical treatment of global seismology, describing the normal-mode, body-wave, and surface-wave methods employed in the determination of the Earth's three-dimensional internal structure and the source mechanisms of earthquakes. The authors provide a survey of both the history of global seismological research and the major theoretical and observational advances made in the past decade. The book is divided into three parts. In the first, "Foundations," Dahlen and Tromp give an extensive introduction to continuum mechanics and discuss the representation of seismic sources and the free oscillations of a completely general Earth model. The resulting theory should provide the basis for future scientific discussions of the elastic-gravitational deformation of the Earth. The second part, "The Spherical Earth," is devoted to the free oscillations of a spherically symmetric Earth. In the third part, "The Aspherical Earth," the authors discuss methods of dealing with the Earth's three-dimensional heterogeneity. The book is concerned primarily with the forward problem of global seismology--detailing how synthetic seismograms and spectra may be calculated and interpreted. As a long-needed unification of theories in global seismology, the book will be important to graduate students and to professional seismologists, geodynamicists, and geomagnetists, as well as to astronomers who study the free oscillations of the Sun and other stars.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Not an easy book but a very good one  2006-03-13
This is a good book. It definitely fills a gap in the literature in the sense that it is unique in combining the rigorous continuum mechanics with the free modes of the earth (or terrestrial planets in general). It also connects the low-frequency oscillations (normal modes) to the seismological observables. The only problem is that you need to have studied a considerable amount of classical continuum mechanics and elastic wave propagation to reach the stage and this can not be expected from everyone. For a student who just studied intro to continuum mechanics and knows what the spherical harmonics are, this book can serve to relate all this stuff to the real world. Have a nice time reading the book.
A thick tome that is a little hard to swallow for begining students  2005-08-27
In my on going quest to collect any and all books on seismology (earthquake and theoretical) I found a good deal (price) on this book and went ahead and bought it. I did not need it for any classes etcetera, but I wanted it as a reference maybe. I ordered it sight-unseen. When I got it I was somewhat dismayed. It is very rigorous in its mathematical treatment of the subject (newbies be forewarned!) and the equations are somewhat cluttered. I don't know why, but I have noticed a trend in that the more advanced textbooks get, the smaller they get! The pages in this book are 5.5" X 9.0" If the pages were bigger, it wouldn't have to be as thick and might make for a cleaner layout. It is a very advanced theoretical book and so I haven't used it much. My only other gripe is somwhat selfish. I learned from other seismology books first and most of the equations in this one are hard to follow because of the use of different symols for variables and indicies. I wish there was some continuity in the seismological community on this matter. The authors are no doubt "giants" in their field, therefore I am sure this book is a valuable asset to researchers. If you are new to the subject and/or curious and this book is NOT required in a class, I would look elsewhere.
Geology ROCKS!!! =) =) =)  2004-08-09
I am an important professor at some university, and I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I used to think geology was a waste of time, but now I don't think so anymore. Because I read this book. This REALLY GOOD book. It's about the free oscillations of the Earth. If you don't know what that means, the earth freely oscillates, and that's what this book is about. These (free) oscillations are related to earthquakes. Well, I don't want to say too much because I'm afraid of spoiling the end of this classic book on free oscillations. But it's about earthquakes and it is SO good. So don't delay, do what I say, and buy this book right away today, okay?
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