Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (Classical Theoretical Physics)

Rating:
Summary: No References and Many Careless Typos
Review: A slightly better graduate text is that by Pathria which is in its second edition. It is fairly clear that Greiner has borrowed heavily from Pathria's approach. Greiner's book is more comfortable to look at and read though.

Greiner does not include a single reference in this book. I would like to point out that if this were an article submitted to a scientific journal, it would be rejected out of hand for this egregious lack of attribution. This is particularly bothersome with regard to comparing experiment with theory. Mr. Bromley, who wrote the preface, states that these comparisons are a plus for the book. While true, this is hardly unique. Every stat mech book I have quotes experimental results, but the others also cite the reference to the original work. This gives students (and teachers) the ability to look at the experimental work and to get the data for themselves, and it gives credit to those who did the work.

What could have been a much better text is marred by too many typos and references to incorrect equation numbers. As well, I find that some "derivations", again contrary to a statement by Bromley, are of the "it can be seen that" variety, which is odd in a text which does go into some detail on many things, e.g. the derivation of the partition function for an ideal gas in the microcanonical ensemble. An example of a non-derivation is given in the discussion that follows eqn 7.67 which arbitrarily splits the velocity distribution into 3 multiplicative pieces. Since the big new thing for a student in this subject is the use of probability, it would have been much more appropriate to find the one-dimensional velocity distribution by integrating the 3d distribution over two of the components. There are other places in the book where the author fails to use this approach. Students find this confusing, I find it inconsistent. As it stands, the formula is correct, but there is not even a hint that it should be derived or questioned.

I found the discussion of the purely classical derivation, the semiclassical derivation, and the quantum derivation of various quantities such as the IG partition function to be a bit confusing at times particularly when the Gibbs factor and the quantum correction h^3N were involved, perhaps it is just me. I would find it better if each derivation were given separately with a summary at the end. This would be more helpful, since some of the later derivations, e.g. Maxwell-Boltzmann are essentially classical in nature and could be arrived at from any of the formulas.

On the other hand I found Chapter 12 on the Grand Canonical Ensemble to be excellent, especially the discussion of the distribution of occupation numbers on p. 308ff, an important topic that is not often discussed in Stat Mech books.

All in all, though, this would be good book with a little more care and with an appropriate reference list. If you get it, pay attention as you read it.

Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: All I can say is that I wish this text had been used in my graduate statistical physics class. The thorough explainations and derivations are very helpful and the extensive examples are priceless for students new to the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thermodynamics, statistical mechanics text.
Review: The way this textbook covers the topic is excellent and its practice problems are perfect. This book deserves the equivalent respect of Landau's series. My only regret is its problem in English translation.