Customer Reviews

Thermal Physics (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This is by far THE BEST textbook on the subject. As many people say, thermodynamics is a subject that one has to learn at least three times. I can easily understand the very negative review from the undergraduate student at Berkely. The subject itself is hard, and simply is not for everyone, not for the first run at least. I say this from experience. I earned a Ph.D. degree over ten years ago, and took courses on thermodynamics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. I didn't understand the subject at all, and didn't find much use in my thesis work. However, something about the subject has kept me going back to it ever since. I now own about 40 books on the subject, and use the ideas almost daily in my research. I discovered Kittel-Kroemer only recently, and have found it absolutely great. The book took an unconventional approach, as the authors explained well in the Preface and the Introduction. This approach makes the central concept, the entropy, as well as the derived ideas, the temperature, the chemical potential and the Boltzmann factor, so clear that one has to wonder why they are obscure in many other books. I find this approach the most direct and satisfying. The book contains a wonderful collection of examples. The book is written with authority and great care. It is beautifully produced, and a joy to read. (My copy hasn't fall apart, and doesn't look it ever will!) If there is a new edition, I'd like to see more links to thermodybnamics in practice. Some rudimentary description of measurements of basic quantities will further enhance the book. A few device examples, in addition to the battery, will help to make the connection. The beautiful logic structure notwithstanding, thermodyanmics is an experimental sceince. Some quantities are easy to calculate, others are easy to measure. The division of labor, an idea so natural in research and everyday life, is often missed in textbooks.

I recommend this book most strongly, and wish more people will discover its beauty.

After so many years in print, and being used by so many students, this book has become a classic in undergraduate statistical mechanics. It is indeed a fine book, and one that will no doubt remain as a standard text in statistical mechanics in years to come. The authors motivate the subject well, and they at all times explain the physics behind the mathematics. So often in textbooks, even at the undergraduate level, the physical intuition gets lost behind the mathematical formalism. Although the book is addressed to an audience of undergraduate physics majors, it could be read profitably by those in other fields, particularly in the biological sciences.

Some of the parts I found particularly well-writtten include the discussions on: 1. The sharpness of the multiplicity function and its connection with the stability of physical properties. 2. The zipper problem as a model of the unwinding of the DNA molecule ( an assigned problem). 3. The ascent of sap in trees (an assigned problem). 4. Bose-Einstein distribution function and the Einstein condensation temperature. Given the exciting developments in this area, this discussion is particularly enlightening. 5. Quasiparticles and superfluidity. This is a nice job here, given the level of the text. 6. The Landau theory of phase transitions. 7. Semiconductor statistics. 8. The Boltzmann transport equation. Because of its immense importance, it is great that the authors have chosen to include a discussion of this in a book at this level. The treatment is very understandable and prepares the reader for more advanced reading on the subject. 9. The heat conduction equation. The diffusive solutions of the equation are discussed in terms of the time development of a temperature pulse, giving the reader a first glimpse of the "Green's function" methods.

As a textbook for an undergraduate course on thermal physics, this offering is quite poor. The authors lack the gift of clearly communicating their (obviously quite good) understanding of thermal physics; the writing, particularly when explaining what should be simple concepts, is dense and opaque. Figures often function as nothing more than page-fillers, and do not serve to clarify the text. Important results are scattered, in many cases not even set off from the main text with any sort of visual cue. The problems for each section (and the text itself) will frequently bring in detailed information from other areas of physics or chemistry without making any attempt to explain its relation to the subject at hand. The authors often use the problems as extensions to the text, adding a half page of extraneous commentary after asking a question that takes a single line to state. As another reviewer remarked, the problems in general can take an hour to interpret and five minutes to solve. Overall, the book is very wordy when it doesn't need to be, confusing, and difficult to use.

If you are an undergraduate taking a first class in thermal physics, it will be a tremendous chore to learn it from this book.

This book in my opinion is the best book at the entry level for understanding thermodynamics.Basic concepts like entropy,chemical potential,perfect gas properties,black body and many others are developed here from scratch with a clear approach,emphasizing use of simple mathematical instruments and illustrations.While the point of view of this book is a little eccentric compared to other textbook competing in the same arena,authors have to be praised for their willingness to educate the reader in a realistic and effective way.Special attention is put to elucidate the very important subject of "equilibrium" a much abused but seldom explained concept in physics.As for problems i agree with other reviewers: they are totally out of sync with the excellent level of the book and they only add entropy to the student brain,but this apart this book is great:5 stars!

A rival to T. Hills stat mech books. Very good introduction to the statistics of Themal Physics ie thermodynamics. Uses a very fundimental approach that teaches the math and thermo ideas well. An excellent addition to any thermodymanics liberary, worth getting even if you have to hunt for it out of print!!!!!

This IS one of the better books on the subject, but that's just because no one who understands the subject can explain it in a clear manner. That goes for Kittel as well. This book has little conceptual content, few examples, and is basically a math text that's not quite as dry as normal. What is most irritating is the way steps are skipped in the logic, as if we can all somehow see into his mind.

Most members in my class, or at least those who have tried reading the book, feel the above is a pretty accurate assessment.

The subject COULD be a lot of fun with a good textbook. The concepts are fairly straightforward to understand despite the poor way they are worded in this and other texts. It doesn't HAVE to be a difficult subject. Am seriously thinking at making an effort to write my own textbook on the subject.

Just ordered the number one textbook on the subject, as rated by Amazon readers, offered here by an author named dill. Every reviewer says his writing is easy to follow. Have my fingers crossed and plan to review that text in a few months. I am done trying to use Kittel's book. The flat spot on my forehead from banging it against the wall is starting to hurt.

I used this book for a junior/senior level undergrad physics course (for majors). The professor loved the book however many of the students, with only exposure to Halliday/Resnick/Krane intro physics, found it difficult to follow the abbreviated treatment of stat-mech... there seemed to be a large gap between the 2 approaches! With a good professor this can be an excellent text but beware...you may find yourself needing supplementary texts such as Reif's "Statistical & Thermal Physics" and even his Berkeley Series sophomore level "statistical Physics" for an explanation of concepts.

This is an excellent introductory text for students of thermodynamics and/or statistical physics. The approach of the book differs from the more traditional thermo texts, so it is very important that the instructor understand and convey the critical points of each chapter clearly. The summary at the end of each chapter is very helpful in this regard. The problems are exemplary of the material, and most are challenging. Students often complain that the book is too terse, but when I used it as a student I found the terseness to be of great value. A careful reading (and yes, re-reading!) of the text makes the concepts very clear.

I remember when I took this couse as an undergraduate it was very challenging to develop an "intuitive feel" for the subject material and the book seemed to make matters worse. Several years later and after a little mathematical "seasoning", I have revisited Kittel's Thermal Physics and now realize how well the material is presented. However, I am forced to give the book 3 stars because I remember how EVERY textbook in the class(~15 students) fell apart before the semester ended. I remember paying nearly $80 for the book at the time- totally unacceptable for a book in this price range. I was actually hoping to find an inexpensive used copy to replace my original, but after reading the reviews, it appears that the binding problem has not been corrected yet. So, I guess I'll have to tolerate keeping the pages intact as I thumb through the book.

I agree with Pate: my classmates generally didn't like the book as much as I did, but I prefer a text which, although it may require a second reading of some sections, doesn't waste my time with unnecessarily verbose explanations. The section ending summaries make the text great for reference. I found the statistical approach inspiring. I agree with my classmate aakeply concerning the quality of the binding. This seems to be an ubiquitous phenomena concerning physics texts: the bindings of my Griffiths electrodynamics, Griffiths quantum mechanics, and Marion mechanics are all falling apart.