Reddit reviews Machine Elements in Mechanical Design (5th Edition)

I personally did not care for the Philpot book. I found the Hibbeler Mechanics of Materials book to be far superior. However, I had to purchase the online version of the textbook for my class and I found the animations for that text to be very helpful.

When it comes to the Machine Design course I really liked Machine Elements in Mechanical Design by Mott, and Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design. Machine Design by Norton was my required text for my Machine Design course and the rest of the class, including myself, found that text to be very difficult to follow. It felt like, at least in the fourth edition, the author released a new edition without thoroughly checking his examples. Therefor, about 9 weeks into the course the professor decided to switch textbooks and assigned yet another text for the class. Having fallen for that trap already, I did a quick amazon search and bought the highest rated machinery design textbook; which was the textbook by Mott.

Also, keep in mind that you don't have to spend $100 for a textbook that is not required for the class. Do as I did and purchase either an international edition or better yet and old edition for which you can easily obtain a solutions manual.

It should go without saying that there are many avenues for purchasing textbooks online. I used to frequent Abebooks, but Amazon has since bought it and I have found that their prices have began to increase. Your best bet is to use a site like Bigwords because a site like that searches many textbook websites for all of the textbooks you want, then picks the best price including things like shipping and coupon offers.

Best of luck.