Customer Reviews

Introduction to Liquid State Physics

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The previous review makes an unwarranted comparison to Hansen and Mcdonald, which is an unfriendly, technical, advanced-graduate-level book. This book (March and Tosi) is an attempt to write a simpler introduction accessible to undergraduates and beginning graduate students. It does not entirely succeed---the language is sometimes stiff, and some topics are mentioned for the sake of mentioning them rather than teaching them---but at least it covers many things that beginners need to know and who would just bounce off Hansen and Mcdonald having gained little more than a bruised ego.

The need for an ideal liquid-state book remains. Unfortunately, both these books were written by theorists. What is needed is a book written by a theorist and experimentalist together. And one that has better pictures, but without becoming one of those fluid dynamics engineering texts.

The subject has come on, and this I do not deny, but the unique position of liquids in the graduate curriculum still remains the same. It is a wide subject covering atomic liquids, dense plasmas and all sorts of novel nano- and meso-scale soft matter. Does this book address anything new for the graduate? Well, not really. The odd thing is that the classic Hansen and McDonald is still by far the best read and introduction - neither pampering nor being condescending to the reader, and only seeks to inform, without the worry of the pet interests of the authors. You can introduce solid-state physics in a single volume and come away feeling as though you have a comprehensive understanding, but this is not quite the case with liquids. Understand a balanced theoretical and experimental treatment as provided by Hansen and McDonald then look at the specific. Oddly enough, research in this area is quite fluid as of its own right, and subject to change, but certain core principles remain the same ... as do texts.