However, as I told my students in the beginning of the next year, you as a student will likely feel about this textbook the same way that Winston Churchill felt about democracy as a form of government, i.e., that it's the worst textbook on thermal physics ever written.except for all the others! The subject is truly a challenging one for students.and I can't imagine another textbook giving them a better understanding. I will admit that the first year that I taught Thermal Physics out of this text, a few of the student evaluations panned the textbook. Many of the problems in this book are far-and-away more interesting than problems you will find in most other texts at this level.
It is very well-written and provides a great introduction to the material.
Highly recommended!Īs an instructor, I really like this book.
Unlike the Feynmen lectures, this text is also helpful for solving actual problems. This book is geared towards advanced undergraduate physics majors, but like the Feynmen lectures, there are nuggets here that transcend the intended audience. In all honesty, I'm not sure how much my students appreciate this, but I at least still appreciate the insights I get! (If only I had found Schroeder's book on Quantum Field Theory as illuminating!) Although I haven't taught an entire class on thermal physics I have drawn on it heavily when teaching units on entropy and heat engines. (whatever - at the time I'm pretty sure it made me feel sick in various vital organs) without it. I used this book intensively while struggling through my graduate Stat Mech class (in retrospect, my undergraduate engineering oriented class on thermodynamics was not adequate preparation), and I'm not sure I would have made it through pancreas.? pathogen.? oh, Pathria.
(I wish I knew of a quantum mechanics text book that did this as well.) I also love how the book explains the connections between the microscopic description of statistical physics and macroscopic thermodynamics. It's very readable - strikes a balance between big picture concepts and calculations. This might be my favorite physics text book ever (on any subject).
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