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This textbook is a pedagogic introduction to a number of phenomena employing fluid mechanics. Beginning with basic concepts and conservation laws for neutral and charged fluids, the authors apply and develop them to understand aerodynamics, locomotion of micro-organisms, waves in air and water, shock waves, hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic instabilities, stars and black holes, blood flow in humans, and superfluids. The approach is to consider various striking topics on fluid mechanics, without losing necessary mathematical rigor. The book balances the qualitative explanations with formal treatment, in a compact manner. A special focus is given to the important and difficult subject of turbulence and the book ends with a discussion on turbulence in quantum fluids. The textbook is dotted by a number of illustrative examples, mostly from real life, and exercises. The textbook is designed for a one semester course and addresses students at undergraduate and graduate level in physicsor engineering, who want to research in the fields as diverse as aeronautics, meteorology, cosmology, biomechanics, and mathematical physics. It is requested knowledge of an undergraduate level course on mathematical methods to better understand the topics presented here.

In addition to domestic animals the earliest records of mankind indicate that slavery, until the use of coal became widespread, has always been a significant aspect, or part, of nearly every society. Consider for example ancient Attica (Greece), in which 115,000 out of a total population of 315,000 were slaves [1]. For the lucky rulers slaves represented power, Joule/second or Watt. On a steady state basis a healthy adult generates about 100 Watts, or 100 J/s, while a highly conditioned endurance athlete can generate about 300 W for perhaps an hour. Today we obtain our energy from fossil fuels, that magical brew of latent-heat chemistry that allows us to run the world without having to rely on people or domestic animal power. We owe much if not all of modern civilization to fossil fuels, no more than stored solar energy, which provide the 40-plus Terawatts that annually powers the? 7,000,000,000 people on this planet, with our fossil fuel burn rate growing to accommodate the annual increase of some additional 100,000,000 or so souls. The foundation of modern society is a pile (lake) of priceless, irreplaceable fossil fuel that, by any measure of the energy you get and what you pay, is all intents free, and being virtually free we have and continue to burn our way through it as fast as we possibly can. It is the tragedy of the (fossil fuel) commons.