S. Chandrasekhar: Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability

In this book I have tried to bring together into a coherent account what I have learnt of hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability, with my students and with my associates, during the past years.
I regret that even in a book of this size, I have not been able to do justice to many aspects of the subject which could claim as much right to attention as those that have received their due or ample share. Perhaps the most serious omission is the absence of any reference to viscous shear flow; but this is a large and a highly specialized field and I have not felt myself competent to write about it. This argument is indeed a general one: in the last analysis an author chooses to write about only those matters in which he has some confidence of his understanding.
In the writing of this book I have received co-operation and assistance, in generous measure, from so many that in order to be reasonably complete I have listed them separately. I should, however, like to mention here the extent of my obligation to Miss Donna D. Elhert: in a real sense this book is the outcome of our joint efforts over the years and without her part there would have been no substance.