This text teaches students the basic mechanical behaviour of materials at rest (statics), while developing their mastery of engineering methods of analyzing and solving problems. It is accompanied by a second book, Pytel and Kiusalaas' Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics for the follow-on dynamics course. It is also available, with Dynamics, in a two-volume shrinkwrapped set. Traditionally, books for the statics and dynamics courses require students simply to plug problem data into standardized mathematical formulas and then compute an answer without thinking through the problem beforehand. This book rejects this plug-and-chug approach. In sample problems throughout the book, the authors direct students to identify the number of unknowns and independent equations in the problem before they attempt to calculate an answer.