Mechanics, the oldest branch of physics, to this day remains the basis for modern technology. This is especially evident with regard to the oil and gas industry. Almost all of the technological processes in these branches of industry, from the drilling of wells to the transporting of oil and gas products via pipelines, are mechanical in their nature. The processes of the development of oil and gas deposits are of primary importance in the whole technological chain of oil and gas extraction from the rocks and their transportation to the customer. The use of scientific methods for improving technology is a long-established tradition of oil and gas industry. For the Western reader, it is enough to mention the fundamental treatises by the outstanding American research scientist and engineer M. Muskat (1937, 1949) as well as the excellent books of Scheidegger (1960) and Collins (1961) which combine practical goals with profound theoretical analysis. The initiators of the application of mechanics for solving problems of the oil and gas industry in the U.S.S.R. were V.G. Shukhov (1981) and LS. Leibenzon (1934, 1947, 1953, 1955) whose works constitute admirable examples of Soviet technical thought. During recent times, the magnitude of oil and gas extraction has increased immensely and many reservoirs with complicated physical and geological properties have, therefore, entered into the development. The fundamental problem of enhancing oil and gas recovery from rocks has been intensively and deeply analyzed.

Mechanics, the oldest branch of physics, to this day remains the basis for modern technology. This is especially evident with regard to the oil and gas industry. Almost all of the technological processes in these branches of industry, from the drilling of wells to the transporting of oil and gas products via pipelines, are mechanical in their nature. The processes of the development of oil and gas deposits are of primary importance in the whole technological chain of oil and gas extraction from the rocks and their transportation to the customer. The use of scientific methods for improving technology is a long-established tradition of oil and gas industry. For the Western reader, it is enough to mention the fundamental treatises by the outstanding American research scientist and engineer M. Muskat (1937, 1949) as well as the excellent books of Scheidegger (1960) and Collins (1961) which combine practical goals with profound theoretical analysis. The initiators of the application of mechanics for solving problems of the oil and gas industry in the U.S.S.R. were V.G. Shukhov (1981) and LS. Leibenzon (1934, 1947, 1953, 1955) whose works constitute admirable examples of Soviet technical thought. During recent times, the magnitude of oil and gas extraction has increased immensely and many reservoirs with complicated physical and geological properties have, therefore, entered into the development. The fundamental problem of enhancing oil and gas recovery from rocks has been intensively and deeply analyzed.

Selected Works of Ya. B. Zeldovich is a two-volume collection of over 100 articles spanning half a century of work by the late Soviet scientist Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich. The breadth and depth of Zeldovich's work is staggering. Author of over twenty books and more than 500 scientific articles, he made fundamental contributions in chemical catalysis and kinetics, combustion and the hydrodynamics of explosive phenomena, nuclear chain reactions and nuclear energy, the physics of elementary particles, and the large-scale structure of the universe and cosmology. The importance of this collection lies not only in its documentary value as a collection of key scientific works by a man whose genius was characterized by the Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov as "probably unique." Zeldovich himself considered his most valuable role to be that of a teacher, to convey to young scientists the how of science. The author of several excellent textbooks on topics ranging from elementary mathematics to advanced methods of mathematical physics, he saw this collection of works, enlarged from the original Russian edition, as a contribution to that end. Here one can see the scientific method at work--and all the enthusiasm, the breakthroughs, and the mistakes associated with real scientific endeavor. Commentaries by the author and the editors are included with each paper serving to enhance both the historical and the pedagogical value of this edition. Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Selected Works of Ya. B. Zeldovich is a two-volume collection of over 100 articles spanning half a century of work by the late Soviet scientist Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich. The breadth and depth of Zeldovich's work is staggering. Author of over twenty books and more than 500 scientific articles, he made fundamental contributions in chemical catalysis and kinetics, combustion and the hydrodynamics of explosive phenomena, nuclear chain reactions and nuclear energy, the physics of elementary particles, and the large-scale structure of the universe and cosmology. The importance of this collection lies not only in its documentary value as a collection of key scientific works by a man whose genius was characterized by the Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov as "probably unique." Zeldovich himself considered his most valuable role to be that of a teacher, to convey to young scientists the how of science. The author of several excellent textbooks on topics ranging from elementary mathematics to advanced methods of mathematical physics, he saw this collection of works, enlarged from the original Russian edition, as a contribution to that end. Here one can see the scientific method at work--and all the enthusiasm, the breakthroughs, and the mistakes associated with real scientific endeavor. Commentaries by the author and the editors are included with each paper serving to enhance both the historical and the pedagogical value of this edition.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.