this book provides a brief introduction to rational continuum mechanics in a form suitable for students of engineering, mathematics and science. the presentation is tightly focused on the simplest case of the classical mechanics of nonpolar materials, leaving aside the effects of internal structure, temperature and electromagnetism, and excluding other mathematical models, such as statistical mechanics, relativistic mechanics and quantum mechanics. within the limitations of the simplest mechanical theory, the author had provided a text that is largely self-contained. though the book is primarily an introduction to continuum mechanics, the lure and attraction inherent in the subject may also recommend the book as a vehicle by which the student can obtain a broader appreciation of certain important methods and results from classical and modern analysis.