Daniel V. Schroeder

Its a bit hard to judge as I can't say I am an expert in any of thermal physics, sub- or related disciplines like statistical mechanics, or in teaching... but as a student, I think this book was a very good, concise introduction. We covered it in one 10 week quarter, with a thing here or there dropped (e.g. real-world refrigerators); so about a chapter a week, though weighted toward the later chapters. Which moved quickly, and seemed like a lot of material at times. I'm definitely going to be keeping it.

That feeling aside :), this is not a large book that tries to cover a year or more of material; it really is an introduction, but at far more detail than the 1 or 3 chapters thermodynamics gets in a general/1st year physics textbook.… (mehr)

Not bad as far as a thermodynamics text goes. Covers both classical thermo dynamics and statistical mechanics. The math is generally concise and easy to follow (albeit with judicious unrigourous sweeping of terms under the rug... usually fair due to very very large numbers being used in the statistics), and the verbal descriptions are decent. The authors constant use of "I" was a bit strange to me. Though I nearly read this book cover to cover, I am still not thoroughly convinced on the 2nd law. The theoretical and mathematical foundations are a bit sparse.… (mehr)