The authors describe their book as a monograph, but such a description does not do justice to the full scope of the material presented. This substantial volume is divided into two parts.

Part 1 deals with numerical methods for initial value problems and provides a lengthy introduction to the stability of numerical schemes for hyperbolic systems. The material covered in the first three chapters represents both an overview and a presentation of the authors’ own work on the subject. An unusual feature is that appended to chapter 1 are three appendices which are merely translations of papers by the authors. It would have been more natural to incorporate this material into the main body of the text and to exploit the freedom offered by a book to give it the appropriate emphasis. Part 1 is the shorter and less satisfactory of the two parts. The notation adopted seems at times to be unnecessarily elaborate and, consequently, the first part is hard to read.

Part 2, which occupies the bulk of the book, is on inviscid steady flow. It includes an extensive literature review as well as a description of the usual flow equations. The authors also present a large and comprehensive bibliography, subdivided into subject areas, which will be a useful source for many research workers. The main attraction of this book will probably be the later chapters, which discuss in detail the results of the authors’ investigations into supersonic flow around blunt- and sharp-nosed bodies. This is an area of considerable interest throughout the world and many will be keen to see the results of the work undertaken in China and compare it with their own. By the very nature of the work, this is a book for specialists and will have limited appeal to a general readership.