Customer Reviews

Statistical Mechanics: Principles and Selected Applications (Dover Books on Physics)

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This is the Dover edition of the 1956 book by Hill on Statistical Mechanics (it was followed by companion book in 1960, also available from Dover). The book is a readable exposition of the foundations and most important results of statistical mechanics. The intended audience is advanced students of statistical mechanics, however, some previous acquaintance with statistical mechanics is recommended. His follow up book, An Introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics (I've heard it referred to by some as ``baby Hill'') is a better starting point for the first-time student.

The book treats a small number of subjects (there are 8 chapters in total) but in detail (this review is based on the chapters I have read so far, 1-4 and 7).

The fundamentals are developed in chapters 1-4 which establish the ensembles, first from the classical Gibbs perspective (chapter 1), then from a quantum mechanical point of view (chapter 2). In chapter 3 Hill develops a generalized ensemble from which the microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical follow as special cases. This part ends with the discussion of fluctuations in chapter 4. The remaining four chapters are devoted to general applications: the treatment of imperfect gases and condensation (Mayer's cluster expansion), distribution functions, and lattice statistics.

Overall the book is very readable by anyone who has some previous exposition to statistical mechanics and the basic mathematical tricks in working with partition functions. There are some small problems. Chapter 7 (nearest neighbor lattice statistics) is uncharacteristically disorganized and unbalanced with respect to explanations relative to chapter 1-4. Notation is not always helpful. A large number of variables in bold and script letters make the reading of equations a chore. This chore becomes even more laborious by the small type of the book (I estimate that the main font is point size 10 or 9, if not less). Dover would do scientists a huge favor by reissuing the book in larger format.

Hill's strength is in not over-explaining things: all mathematical detail is made available to the reader who must then use make use of his/her own brain to make sense of it. For the most part this works well for anyone willing to put the effort (for those who want some guidance in reading about statistical mechanics, an excellent companion is Pathria's book).

Very good text if you have the other book by hill on 'stat thermo' or a previous background on the subject, yet another Dover bargain.

Classic stat mech text. Inexpensive enough to be on anyone's shelf who has a need to refer to some of the basics from time to time. Out of date for current topics but the basics don't change.