Customer Reviews

Warmth Disperses and Time Passes: The History of Heat (Modern Library Paperbacks)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Buy this book if you have given any thought to why coffee cools and orange juice always gets warm. This extremely well written book deals with the most important thoughts some of the most outstanding scientific thinkers throughout history have given to our concepts of heat and energy. What is really striking about the book is that it does so in a readily understood manner without resorting to a single formula or diagram. As a relatively young student I was exposed to a course in thermodynamics which left enduring scars on me. I developed a life long distaste for the likes of Carnot, Clausius and Clapeyron. This book has shown me the errors of my ways. Every faculty member who teaches thermodynamics and every student who wishes to really understand thermodynamics should be required to read this book before entropy is ever discussed again in a classroom. The single concern that I have about the book is it's failure to mention the name or contributions of Willard Gibbs.

This is an enjoyable history of thermodynamics. Maxwell's Demon does not actually come into it until about half-way through, and then becomes, gradually, the focus. Von Baeyer's approach is to advance his topic short chapter by short chapter. Each chapter treats the work of a man (alas, in science women have not, until recently, played much of a part) as it relates to the growing knowledge of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The ideas, the experiments, the intellectual milieu, and the subject's life are all fair game in these little essays, and all are treated in a clear, serious, but still light-hearted way. The writing is very pleasing, the author's humane, humorous and cultured personality shines through.

The point of the book, of course, is to explore the Second Law of Thermodynamics, using the Demon invented by the physicist Maxwell. It has proved a remarkably troublesome sprite in spite of all the attempts to exorcise it over the years. Here you will learn some thermodynamics and some history, and when you are done you will have a general idea of the issues swirling around the notion of entropy. After reading this book, you very well might want to get your feet wet in an introductory text on thermodynamics, now that you know some of the issues in play. Or, if you already know some, this will fill in the human background, and may alert you to some current thinking.

One of the current issues is the relationship between the entropy from Information Theory and the entropy from Thermodynamics. As various folks keep trying to conflate them, our author reports on it. The discussion is detailed enough to actually convey some of the ideas that trouble modern researchers, and tantalizing enough to make the reader want to know even more. What else could one want from a popular book on the subject?

This is the best book about thermodynamics I have ever read ! In my opinion, it makes more to the understanding of this difficult and so misundertood discipline than any other "theoretical" book. Reading this is a funny and pleasant experience! It's like an adventure book, as it relives the history of the men who built the discipline of thermodynamics, and the curious and interesting circustances that brought them to their discoveries. some of that men and their histories I have never heard about!! Congratulations to Von Baeyer, who has done an outstanding and incredible job!!

Here is a very fine and accesible history of thermodinamics that not only keeps the reader interested and excited to he last page,but it is also thought provoking,spurring readers into more advanced reading on the subject.Highly recommended!

A good book to read as you struggle with the monster of Physical Chemistry!!! I found it was a good way to inspire me to get excited about doing my thermodynamics homework...and hay my grade actually went up on the next exam! :) It tells you who the heck Carnot, Clausius, and Joule are. Lord Kelvin (of the kelvin scale) was also known as Willian Thomson..the Thomson of the dreaded Joule-Thomson coefficient...but I give the story away.

This book chronicles the history of energy, heat, and entropy from the late 18th century with Count Rumford to today.
Nowadays we take the law of conservation of energy to be a given but this book allows you to peer into how scientists of old try to grapple with what was then a very abstruse and elusive concept of energy.
I found this book especially helpful in illustrating the different definitions of the second law of thermodynamics. Each one shines more light on this often subtle law in physics. I was especially fond of reading the description of Clausius' discovery of entropy.

Aside from these high points there were some parts that struck out completely. Chapter 8 falls squarely into this category - it is a parable supposedly describing entropy but I did not gain anything from it. Another chapter that did not flow with the better parts of the book was "Four Obituaries of the Demon"

The end of the book briefs some more contemporary concepts of entropy. One question raised is on the relation between classical dynamics and entropy: If I know the state of every particle in a bottle, is there actually any entropy? Similarly, the odds of a pack of playing cards being ordered by number and suit is actually the same as being ordered in some much less noticeable pattern - is the amount of disorder the same between the two instances?

Overall, I think the book covers too much in too little space. I would have liked to see more detail and rigor too.

Also titled Temperature and Time Flow Down in Europe; Bayer does an excellent job in explaining this physical phenomenon. I heartily recommend this book for armatures, students, and physicists wanting a fresh perspective.

apart from that the author used very uncommon vocabulary frequently,
the content is clearly five stars.
i never liked thermodynamics during my bachelor study, but after i read that book i admit that it is fabulous, and now the book is just separate papers out of its binding ! weeeeeee,man it's terrible binding!!!!!!!!
after all , thanks Hans.

An interesting book giving a historical overview.
I have to warn the interested people that the book
is lacking equations.
The only one I found was e=mc*c
If the reader has a rudimentary understanding of mathematics
than (s)he will miss the equations.

A beautiful book that explains thermodynamics clearly for the layman. I also purchased the author's other book "Taming the atom" which was yet another masterpiece.