2 comments about Nuclear Renaissance: Technologies and Policies for the Future of Nuclear Power.

1. Every university library in the UK and USA should have a copy of this; and every college teaching any kind of technology and society qualification.
   Bill is not shy of stating his own opinions, but this never has any detrimental effect on the objectivity of the content. He really does not like the accounting distinction between a waste and an asset; particularly where plutonium is concerned, as this makes no difference to what you would actually do with the stuff. He is quite aware that it makes a big difference to the balance sheet of British Energy, but as he says, since this company was effectively destroyed by low electricity prices, it has to be bailed out by the UK government anyway. The term "actinide management" in the American dominated G-IV report also comes in for some criticism as a pointless euphemism for what eveyone knows is fuel reproessing.
   
   Another political issue is that discussions of legacy nuclear waste are separated from discussions of waste from future programmes. Bill ably makes the point that optimising these two issues in isolation is likely to lead to a non-optimal overall programme.
   
   The book is salted with intriguing asides: such as that the oil industries are much better at understanding risk and managing multi-decade projects, whereas todays electricity companies have problems imagining the future only one year ahead. Therefore the logical companies to develop fission reactors in the next 40 years are the existing oil and gas companies, not electricity producers. These companies also have the skills to use nuclear heat for chemical processing and not just electricity production.
   
   There are additional points made that you would not find (certainly not easily) in any original reports: the issue of training and the availability of experienced nuclear engineers in the UK; the difficulty of finding independent nuclear waste disposal experts who have not at some time had a grant or contract from NIREX to study the issues. The "polluter pays" principle may seem obviously attractive, but Bill shows that it has awkward and counter-productive effects within the particular organisational structures we find ourselves inheriting in the UK. Similarly the "intergenerational equity" principle actually leads to exactly the opposite behaviour from that which one might want.
   
   A technology policy point which is better articulated by Bill than anywhere else I have seen is in the view of risk: the public can prefer a techniology which the technical experts regard as not only dangerous, but professionally unethical. The public in many countries prefers risk to be borne by informed volunteers (employees, typically) whereas engineers tend to believe that it is preferable to structure risks so that the overall mininum number of people are affected. Thus many people prefer the option of "partioning and transmuting" fuel wastes to reduce the impact on future generations, even if the extensive new chemical processing required will almost inevitably lead to industrial accidents involving workers at the chemical plant. This is all disussed in the context of detailed expositions of the technologies of nuclear waste burners.
   
   Light is also shed on philosophical distinctions: technical experts are generally logical whereas a sense of "natural order" is more common in environmental campaigners. Thus the two groups can come to opposite conclusions on the question of whether it is legal to dig up and then rebury some ore exactly as it was. Those "motivated by considerations of natural law" might regard it as absurd to criminalise that, whereas a legalistic mindset might take the opposite view.
   
   The book offers a complete guide to all the major fission reactor types in use now and planned for the future, and a complete guide to the nuclear fusion options. This is the bulk of the book, but the technical descriptions are informed throughout by an appreciation of what these design distinctions mean in terms of proliferation risks, electricity grid load-following (or not), and the use of nuclear heat to make hydrogen. If you want ot learn more about the several pebble-bed reactor designs, modular reactors, molten-salt liquid nuclear fuels, reburning fuels without reprocessing, thorium fuel implications for waste management, mixed fission/fusion reactors, reactors cooled by liquid lead or reactors producing 1560 C Helium; then this is the book for you.
   
   What is clear is that a number of different reactor types will be required in the future. If the UK and Russian plutonium stockpiles are to be disposed of, then that requires mixed oxide fuel systems; but if wastes are to be retained and transmuted at some future date using accelerator technologies, then the fuel should ideally be something that can be separated out - but in a way that impedes proliferation. The most proliferation-resistant fuels are also those that increase the volume of high level waste
   
   There are absolutely no simple answers: the 100 tonnes of UK Plutonium is not going away (and with every passing year, more Americium accumulates in it, so increasing the disposal problems). However, with this book I have some confidence that we have in one place all the essentially relevant issues from which workable sets of policies can be constructed.
   
   While in the UK we might prefer to buy our nuclear power in the form of electricity from France, if we are to take climate change seriously, then understanding where nuclear power is being used is an essential part of understanding the world of the 21st century.
   
   Addendum: The book is about technologies world-wide, and policies in the developed world, particularly the background to possible new nuclear build in the USA, UK and the rest of Europe. Nevertheless, as Bill says, there is no need for a renaissance in France, Russia, China, South Africa and India where nuclear fission reactor deployment is continuing and expanding. I would like to know more about those programmes today, but perhaps that is another book.
   
   The editing by the IoP leaves some unevenness: some repetition is expected between sections in what will be for most people a reference book. But to be told three times that the UK will have by 2010 an inventory of 100 tonnes of Plutonium, and that this is two-thirds of the world stockpile, is too much repetition (pages 97, 101 and 102).
   
   The three sections of the book: "The Policy Landscape", "Nuclear Fission Technologies", and "Nuclear Fusion Technologies" are each followed by an extensive list of references.



2. This book is slightly marred by a somewhat fuzzy Afterword and reuse of identical language when the same information is repeated in different sections leading to a jarring sense of deja vue for one reading it cover-to-cover (As I did).
   
   However it is a wonderful, highly readable, generally excelently observed, world overview/annotated bibliography of nuclear technologies -- providing in one volume valuable perspective, awesome research, and pointers to more definitive treatments for nearly every item discussed.

5 comments about Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms.

1. I think the previous reviewers have not been keeping up with the leaps and bounds that technology has been making with quantum dots. They exist folks and they are being used as we speak. While the applications for this technology as discribed in this book are not possible at this point in time, they should no longer be considered impossible. Just type 'quantum dots' in your search engine or check out some of the popular science websites. This is real and it is utterly facinating. Definately a good book but you'll need to read up on some basic quantum mechanics first to really enjoy it (the reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5).



2. You can also download this book free at
   http://www.wilmccarthy.com/HackingMatterMultimediaEdition.pdf



3. Despite my intrinsic interest in such futuristic topics as programmable matter, the subject of Wil McCarthy's interesting journalistic account of research underway at laboratories around the world, I never know how much I should believe concerning these possibilities. More likely than not it will turn out to be just as real as speculations about flying cars in the 1930s or jet packs for everyone in the 1950s or...I could go on and on. In "Hacking Matter" McCarthy lays out a story as fantastic as any concocted by a master of science fiction. It has the attraction of ancient alchemy--of Midas turning anything to gold with his touch or Rumplestiltskin's spinning of straw into gold--and may be just about as real.
   
   But there is a serious side to this, and McCarthy does a service by discussing the research underway to manipulate matter at the level of the molecule. Scientists already understand the process, and the very real science of nanotechnology is built on this knowledge. The U.S. Department of Defense, other government agencies, and some corporations are investing in this future technology. Their reasons for doing so are obvious, if we can transform one type of matter into another with the click of a mouse button the potential is incredible. Materials precious and difficult to obtain may be acquired quickly, easily, and safely. The potential to completely change the physical existence of all humanity should be apparent. This is a fascinating story, one that is probably realizable perhaps centuries in the future, that is if it realizable at all. But it is a fascinating line of scientific inquiry nonetheless.



4. Quantum information encode on each photon; the race is too replace the transistor; quantum dot nanoparticles create entanglement, so that their relative positions determine their effect on another; when arranged in groups of eight, Quantum Celluar Automata (QCA) can carry out binary logic necessary fro today's computer operations.
   
   QCA requires low temperators and the replacement is nanomagnets, 100 nm that mirror the function of transistor-based logic gates and matrix handles the logic operations.
   MQCA envisons a all magnetic computer, operates at room temperature, fabricates easier, and advances magnetic storage industry. Wolfgang Porod created the process of magnetic patterning to produce a chip using arrays of separate magnetic domains.
   
   "For a quantum computer, whose bits can be in two quantum states at once, both on or off at the same time, many solutions can be explored simulataneously.
   Quantum dot system exhibits long-lasting coherence. QDOT arrays must be scaleable into large systems. Quantum machine requires large number of quantum switches working together as a group. When two elections occupy the same space, they must pair with oposite spin, one electron with up spin and the other with down. Eight converging wires or gates deposit the electrons in the dot one by one and electronically fine-tune the dot's properties so they would become entangled. The down-up, up-down configuration occurred simulataneously.
   
   1. When a N layer istraped between two P layers, it attracts electrons into the middle layer and doesn't let them out. If the N layer is really thin, 10 nanometers, the trap approaches a quantum-mechanical limit, the de Broglie wavelength, and wave-like behavior moves along the vertical axises. Quantum wires can be practically used in optical computers, fiber-optic networks, and lasers.
   2. Electrons will arrange themselves into orbitals around the positively charged nucleus; these orbitals and electrons determine the physical and chemical properties of an atom. When the electrons are trapped in quantum dots they will arrange themselves as though they were part of the atom, even though there's no atomic nucleus for them to surround. Which atom they resemble depends on the number of excess electrons trapped inside the dot. Electrons can be confinedelectrostatically, by electrodes, pumping electrons in out by varying the voltage of the fence. Kastner, in 1993 labeled the nanostructure an "artificial atom": single-electron transistor (SET), Coulomb Island, or zero dimensional electron gas, or colloidal nanoparticle or semiconductor nanocrystal. "One electron gets you hydrogen, two gets you helium, and so on. Each dot has its own unique periodic table, though; size and shape and composition of the device have a huge effect on how its electrons interact. We can easily call up an artificial, six carbon atom on the chip, buts its structure may or may not resemble that of a natural carbon atom." "Another prediction made by MIT theorist is that there should be quantum dot materials that behave as insulators when they contain an odd number of electrons, and as conductiors whey they contain an even number." "Large collections of quantum dots, along with metals and semiconductor substrate will be referred to as programmable materials."
   3. "Quantum scientist have also shown that an array of Single electron Transistor - SETs create a form of neural network." SETs construct computers that use individual electrons to carry information. SET biggest problem is operating at room temperature. Quantum tunneling means the can "interact capacitively rather than by current flow throught the wires." "When their interactions result from the quantum tunneling of electrons, quantum dots can collectively behave as a form of quantum cellular automaton, QCA. QCA computers may show associative memory. If Decoherence can be avoid a qbit can form with a 0 or 1 or superposition state of both at the same time. 5 qbits could handle 32 states (2^n), simulateously; a conventional computer would handle 32 sets of 5 bits, or 160 bits in all. 64 bit encryption could be processed with one 64 qubit operation, whereas, a conventional computer requiring 2^64, 1.84 x10^19 operations or 292.5 years, 18 billion billion times more powerful than a 64 bit binary computer.



5. I have no degrees in physics, just a bit of curiosity and for me this book was wonderful. A very well written (for laymen) brief on a technology that is just over the horizon. If only half the apllications he describes are realized, wellstone will change our lives.
   I was left with only one (whimsical) question about wellstone; could you build a ringword with it?

1 comments about Nuclear Physics: Principles and Applications.

1. I used this book to prepare an exam corresponding to a 3rd year introductory nuclear physics course. I've received, in general, a really good impression, even though my contact with the text is been limited to the first -"Principles"- part of the book. My valutation, separating good ("+") and bad ("-") impressions is
   
   (+) Lots of figures illustrating key concepts of the text, almost ever including experimental data plotting.
   (+) Concise explanations.
   (+) Structured treatment of topics.
   (+) Explanations at an undergraduate level. Perfect for a 3rd - 4th year physics student.
   (+) Little knowledge concerning other matters is required, just a few quantum mechanics and special relativity concepts that are anyway explained when needed.
   (+) Author doesn't get lost into exhaustive and unnecessary mathematical developments.
   (+) Supplementary appendices at the end of the book with useful imformation, also including every known isotope mass excess, half-time (or abbundance) and decay mode (if unstable).
   (+) Includes exercises at the end of each chapter, solved in the appendices.
   (+) Author refers to every theory valutating pros and cons of each one, never discarding any of them.
   
   (-) More other books references while explanations are being developed would be helpful.
   (-) Sometimes is difficult to discern which are the secondary or really important topics.
   (-) If English is not your mother language you should take into account that sometimes a little bit complex sentences are used.

No comments about Nuclear Physics of Stars.

4 comments about The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter (Science Essentials).

1. Though I am a particle physicist in my profession I might have read dozens of popular books on this subject and related subjects. The one thing that is very clear when reading this book is that there is no attempt to hide anything behind the carpet. Nir and Quinn challenge themselves by trying to explain very difficult terms like "matter fields","energy functions" and "vacuum energy" without over simplifying them, like is done in most popular books on this subject. Whether they succeed in their mission or not I am not capable to say. However, I think with its beautiful cartoons and its thorough explanations this book is trying to aim at both the layman and the more advanced reader; each one can pick whatever from the book and understand it on a different level. If you consider yourself an intelligent reader I can guarantee this book is telling only the truth, no shortcuts. This book is a manifestation of the wise man saying: things should be simple but not simpler than that. Thats the book. Highly recommended for both the novice and the pro.



2. In short, a very frustrating book. It's supposed to make particle physics accessible to the lay reader, but it doesn't take any steps to truly do so. No glossary of terms. No summary charts of the various particles. As for pictures? Apparently the authors decided that the reader would have no problem visualizing particle decay (and all its various colors and handedness and charges and spins), but needs a picture of a man balancing a broom on his nose because that would be beyond our mental capability. The authors will remind you of simple ideas (they tell us multiple times that the Baryon number is quarks minus antiquarks) yet don't think you need to be reminded what W- particles are again ... of course, a glossary and chart would make repetition unnecessary.
   
   I also think they should've put equations in the book. I can understand that they thought doing so might scare off some readers, but some of the ideas would've been easier to understand if the equation involved was reproduced.
   
   Some of the bio of the scientists is interesting, but it's usually just a couple sentences. And I can tell the authors were earnest in their desire to convey their enthusiasm for the subject. But the lack of summary data or useful images just makes it too arduous for the casual reader. Someone who has taken several college physics courses might have better luck ... but then the lack of bibliography at the end will probably frustrate them as it makes the book an end point, not a starting point.



3. An excellent update on consmology. Need some background to be totally understood.
   Well written.



4. I really enjoyed this book a lot, I'm a little addicted to popular science books on physics and cosmology, and now of course there are many many titles to choose from, nonetheless this book has much to offer. It's very straightforward, there is not a single wasted word, it goes to the heart of the matter of matter-antimatter asymmetry and doesn't mince words in describing how mystifying the problem is, and how far from solution it still is. It's over glossed over in other quantum physics books, but because the authors here get into a lot of detail about the standard model and its asymmetries in cpt, they are able to conclusively point out that the asymmetry is still completely a mystery. It's clear some other insights beyond the standard model are required to explain it.
   
   The book starts out with the usual reviews of cosmology, then of quantum mechanics and standard model, but these are covered very completely with a minimum of unnecessary detail. The new problems of dark matter and 'dark energy' or cosmological constant are included, plus a lot of big bang models leading to the current universe. So by reviewing what is pretty much well known we can better appreciate the mystery of why matter, no antimatter, when the laws appear to be quite symmetric. Of course in the standard model, there is asymmetry in CP violations, but it turns out that it's not enough to lead to the observed distribution of matter, it's much to small an effect.
   
   Some speculations end the book, as to where to go to extend the standard model and explain the asymmetry, luckily they don't dwell on string theory, limiting themselves to leptogenesis and supersymmetry. It's clear that new experimental findings are crucial to get some kind of insight into where to go. This continuous emphasis on scientific work, testable theories, as opposed to philosophical style speculations is really refreshing.

5 comments about The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics.

1. Talk about gluten for punishment I read this twice. I swear the person that wrote this does not have a TV which expels his lace of contemporary physics let alone any depth. There are references to the "New Physics" is that like "New Age"?
   
   90% of the matter must be missing from this book. Or how else can he take physics out of context and make such fantastic leaps to religions that he knows little of. He even twists the religion around to serve some unknown purpose.
   
   Many people say they did not understand physics until this book; Surprises, you still do not. You now know what Zukav wished physics was. Take anti-mater for instants that does not mean the opposite of mater. And the relationship between particles has no correlation with the relationship of dogs and cats.
   
   At least get it straight before mixing it up. Try reading some of these:
   "The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski". The book available everywhere as are the DVD's.
   
   The Upanishads by Eknath Easwaran (Editor), Michael N. Nagler (Photographer)
   
   Or just about any mainstream material on physics and religion.
   
   Then if you still want to mix worlds into one read someone saner:
   The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism by Fritjof Capra.



2. Nutshell review - a fun introduction and overview of the mysteries and quirks of the world of quantum physics. A good read written in a easy to understand style for us laymen.



3. This is the best of several books that I have read on quantum mechanics and related topics for the non-physicist. The style is very engaging. No wonder this book has become a classic in the field.



4. Particle physics theory is more amazing and fantastic then I could have imagined. The depth of our understanding of the atom and particles are both beautiful and awesomely powerful.
   
   When I was young (25) I did not know that I could understand particle physics or quantum mechanics. Worrying about my GPA I wouldn't even attempt it in college. But I read this book. Loved it. Read ten or so "real" books on quantum mechanics, string, astrophysics, then went back to learn classically physics. And learned how the equations work.
   
   If you want to know particle physics for fun, I recommend this book. The book shows you many equations, but you don't have to work them. There will be plenty of time for that later, if you care to.
   
   The author uses many analogies to Buddhism. They are helpful to some like me. For my generation, Buddhism was highly regarded. I learned how to meditate, otherwise the stories are nice but not necessarily true. They help illustrate points in the book. They help explain the science, but they are not science themselves. Don't worry about them if they don't appeal to you.
   
   After learning about theoretical particle physics I read books on experimental physics and how particle accelerators and detectors work. I wanted to know exactly how the scientists knew what they said they knew. The physics in the book are provable, not everything has been proven, not all theories will be shown to be correct. Many of them are true, and have been proven before and after the book was written.



5. I'll qualify the rating: It's one star if you want some entertainment, zero stars if you think you'll gain anything of scientific value.
   
   This book is an interesting and intellectually seductive waste of time - or, should I say space-time continuum?
   
   The entire discourse is a series of circuitous "logic", like chains of circles forming spheres forming circles. The irony is that Zukav says "...going around in a circle is one kind of dead end." I agree.

No comments about Atomic physics: An exploration through problems and solutions.

5 comments about Atomic Physics (8th Edition) (Dover Books on Physics and Chemistry).

1. When we see how much quantum mechanics pushed our civilization and how bad it became explained on 'modern' textbooks it is a relief to find out that this book is still published and affordable. A must for anyone interested in the subject or needing to understand it with the help of one of the fathers of QM.



2. Well, this is probably not the most up to date text but it is still one of the best. The book is a collection of topics (Atomic Physics, Solid State Physics, some of QM, some of classical Physics, Statistical Thermodynamics), which are explained in a short, simple and clear way. This is also a great book for those who are familiar with QM: they will find an excellent collection of topics that are just outlined on other standard QM textbooks. Moreover one can learn a lot from the original way M. Born approaches important subjects in Physics (how to recognize the Physics in every concept, for example). This is a book everyone interested in Physics should have in her/his library.



3. Atomic Physics is based upon a series of lectures on physics that Born gave in Germany in 1933. Since then it has been translated into English updated significantly as physics developed. This means that the book represents sound physics, and not the relatively undeveloped 1933 picture of the physics.
   
   I should note that the title of the book is slightly misleading. The original German edition was called modern physics. However, the publisher of the English version already had a book called modern physics, so the English version was renamed Atomic Physics.
   
   Born covers a wide range of topics dealing with the gasses, elementary particles, the structure of the nucleus, atoms, molecules. He has written the book in the context of describing the historical development of each topic. This is done in a flowing style by only including important equations in the text. Derivations and so fourth are placed in the 130 pages of appendices in the back of the book. This allows the text to tell a story without the burden of constant discontinuities due to equations. If you want to see the maths, just flip to the back of the book.
   
   I would classify this book somewhere between popular science and a textbook. Like a popular science it tells a story, it flows and readable. People with some knowledge of physics can read this book and learn a lot form it. Even without the appendices. On the other hand, like a text it doesn't give hand wavy, simplified descriptions of the physics. This is good hard physics.
   
   While I wouldn't call this book a text, it is far too general for that, it does give an excellent overview of the development and character of modern physics from one of the people who was there in the thick of it. I highly recommend it to any person that is acquainted with physics. Non-scientists would probably benefit more from reading something like Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe.
   
   This is a great book, it is well written, structure and relevant. It fully deserves five stars. To reiterate what other reviewers have said, I wish present-day textbooks were written this well.



4. I used this book many years ago to prepare for my preliminary exams (pre-PhD exams) in modern physics. Although it's dated (ca. 1950), that doesn't matter very much. The strong feature is that it discusses the content without getting into a lot of formalism, and gives the historical connection between different aspects that one is not likely to see in the usual text books.



5. This is a wonderful book to read if you have an advanced degree in math and physics. The latter is needed to understand it completely. It's probably also a wonderful book to read even if you don't have an advanced degree in math and physics, for it does actually penetrate the equations and reveal the physics hidden within them. It is telling of the calculus-centric view of its era, that the author uses Fourier transforms, separation methods for PDEs, perturbation theory, and other advanced analysis tools, without flinching, but shies away from simple algebraic methods as being 'mathematically too advanced.'

2 comments about Fallout.

1. Although Fallout is in a comic book format it is serious history. The portraits are accurate. The events leading up to the bomb are covered in depth.

   The account of the government's digraceful treatment of Oppenheimer is chilling, reminding us of how the people at the top here were much like the leaders in the USSR.




2. This graphic novel, subtitled "J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb", is a good quick read. It's hard for my generation, raised with the fall of the Soviet Union, to appreciate how stupendous the atomic bomb really was. But this book does a great job of making the history of that period accessible. The book is not that short-around 200 pages-but, due to its graphic nature, is very easy to read.
   
   Fallout is really divided into two major sections. The first is concerned with the idea and creation of the atomic bomb, starting from Szilard's ideas in the 1930s and ending with the Trinity test in 1945. The second is concerned with the inquiry into Oppenheimer's advisory position to the Atomic Energy Commission, which occured in the political climate of the 1950s. Both these are worth reading, but the second one, which has much more text-portions of letters are printed along with the graphics-is a chilling reminder of the craziness of that time.
   
   With 6 different authors listed on the cover (and more in the back pages), the illustrations change often enough that you do have to pay attention to know who is speaking. Additional difficulties arise because there are so many characters. I think the book would be stronger if one author had been responsible for all of the graphic content because the characters would be easier to keep track of.
   
   One very nice aspect of this book is the end notes. At the back of the book, extensive text outlines what parts are true and what parts are surmise. As the front of the book saysm "many of the quotes and incidents that you'll think most likely to be made up are the best documented facts." For example, Teller, one of the scientists, denies his similarity to Dr Strangelove, and another, Szilard, devises his own cancer treatment using radiation.
   
   All in all, if you're in for a light introduction to the history of one of the heaviest subjects, Fallout is a good choice.

5 comments about Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity (Oxford Master Series in Physics).

1. I immensely enjoyed studying this statistical mechanics book. I think that the author, James Sethna, has a "Feynman-like" ability to explore his subject matter with much depth, insight, and many playfully creative excursions. The exercises cover such topics as the thermodynamics of Dyson Spheres and black holes; of how many shuffles it takes to fully randomize a card deck; and of whether an advanced, intelligent being or civilization can, from a thermodynamic standpoint, manage to process an infinite number of thoughts before the heat death of the universe, or whether they are limited to a finite number of thoughts. I think that there is a lot of wisdom and insights in this book which is missing in other books I've read on statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, where I often feel overwhelmed by a zoo of partial derivatives and thermodynamic equations with little guidance given on how the entire structure fits together. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who has studied some statistical mechanics and/or thermodynamics in a lower-level undergraduate course, and is looking for more advanced upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level text.



2. This book is great, if you've already got an advanced physics degree and want a new/fresh look at Statistical Mechanics with a modern bent. The problems are very long and wordy, but that ususally means there's a lot of explanation...which is because none of it is explained in the text.



3. This books is reader friendly and very interesting. In the chapter about correlation function & linear response theory, the demonstration is very clear and self-consistent. As a student who is new to this topic, I think this chapter is even better than Chandler's book on this topic( I love Chandler's intro too). The problem set seems to be stimulating and may need more time than learning the main text. And more, the appendix is on Fourier Transform, a saver to the chemistry student like me.



4. The book Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity by James Sethna is excellent. I have used it as the main textbook in my course on Statistical Physics for first year graduate students at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil. The students and I liked it very much.
   
   I think that the main quality of the book is that it presents Statistical Physics as a very dynamical subject, interconnected with several subjects within physics, as well as outside it.
   
   Since the book is aimed for a one semester course on the subject, the author had to make important choices. I really liked his choices. For instance, the book does not discuss approximate methods used to treat systems with interacting particles, instead the author has chosen to have a chapter on Calculation and Computation. Although these methods have played an important role in the past, nowadays the study of the relevant problems in the field require computer simulations. The chapter on Computer Simulation is excellent. Instead of only discussing how to perform a Monte Carlo simulation, it proofs mathematically in detail (except for the Perron-Frobenius theorem) why one ends up with an equilibrium probability distribution after a number of Monte Carlo steps. Another important subject covered in the book is that of Abrupt Phase Transitions. For most Statistical Physics books, only Second Order or Continuous Transitions exist. The exercises are also another very important and interesting choice made by the author. They are very different from the usual exercises one can find in a regular textbook on Statistical Physics. The exercises are in general very intelligent and they appear in a broad range of difficulty, from those which can be solved by inspection to those that are small projects. I recall two great examples, exercises 5.7 and 5.10, where it is shown in a very clear and clever way that, when we know the system from a microscopic point of view, its entropy does not increase, whereas if we know only a coarse-grained description of it, then its entropy does increase. Some exercises lead the reader, in a secure way, through aspects of the theory that are not covered in the text. For instance, Landau's theory for phase transitions is presented in a very nice way in exercise 9.5.
   
   Perhaps, the aspect that I have enjoyed most in the book is that the author does not shy away from discussing one of the thorniest points in the fundamentals of Statistical Physics: what entropy really is. The book discusses in some detail Phase Space Dynamics and Ergodicity. It presents some physical situations where the ergodic hypothesis breaks down. Usually this problem with the theory is swept under the rug in most textbooks. One very interesting case is that of the entropy of glasses. A subject the author himself has worked on. If a liquid is cooled down very fast it may become a glass, undergoing what is called a glass transition. When the system is in the liquid phase its atoms are diffusing and the system goes through all different possible configurations, that is believed to be the cause for its entropy (ergodicity). When the liquid undergoes a glass transition, the atoms cease diffusing and the system is jammed in one (a single one) structure of the liquid that generated it. If the system is not anymore going through all the possible configurations available what has happened to its entropy? No heat is released in this transition, therefore, one does not expect a change in its entropy. A hardcore purist would answer that the glass is not a system in equilibrium and, therefore, the entropy is not well defined. The point is, it may take much more than the age of the Universe for the glass to reach the final equilibrium and become a crystal (reported changes in glasses of ancient churches are urban legends). The question about what has happened to the entropy of the liquid remains there, despite the purist's answer. The experimentalists can measure very well the residual entropy of a glass. For the author, for me and fortunately nowadays for many others, the satisfactory answer is that the entropy of a glass is the missing information about the system. Another example of residual entropy can be found in the ice cubes in your refrigerator.
   
   At last but not least, I would like to comment on a misconception of a previous reviewer about Shannon's Information Theory. The entropy proposed by Shannon is a measure of the uncertainty of a set of possible messages that can be exchanged, regardless the content of each message. Therefore, this entropy is related to the probability distribution associated with the ensemble of possible messages, regardless of their content. If there are any doubts, I would suggest reading the first chapter of the book Mathematical Foundations of Information Theory by A. Ya. Khinchin. In section 5.3.2 of the book, the author is just analyzing the properties of the Shannon entropy of a probability distribution using a humorous example. The probability distribution can be associated with anything, even with a key lost by a careless room-mate. This entropy is a property of the probability distribution, independent of any possible meaning attributed to it by a human being.



5. This advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level text on statistical mechanics is clearly written by a master and perhaps visionary teacher. Statistical mechanics remains, in my opinion, the only truly rigorous science of emergent phenomena. As the scientific community in general focuses more on complex systems, it is likely that the techniques developed for the theoretical study of the statistical thermodynamic properties of matter will find widespread applications from biology to banking. In this spirit, this book is written to educate the next generation of scientists rather than as a text focused solely on existing applications.
   
   While the subject matter of this book easily devolves into mathematical gymnastics, this text is wonderfully written to simultaneously build up an intuitive grasp along with proficiency with mathematical concepts. Introductory chapters on "What is statistical mechanics?" and "Random walks and emergent properties" are deceptively simple: the mathematical techniques employed in these chapters should be immediately accessible to senior level physics and engineering students. Yet by the end of Chapter 2, one finds oneself deriving a simple one-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation--a nontrivial application in statistical mechanics with applications in chemical kinetics, transport phenomena, mathematical biology, and finance.
   
   This appeal to potentially broad applications is part of what makes this book unique. While a great number of important physical concepts are developed, this is really not an ordinary physics book. Instead, the tools and techniques of statistical mechanics are developed from an exceptionally broad perspective.
   
   While I have worked very few of the problems, the end-of-chapter problems sets present deep and detailed questions that are critically integrated into the text. A reader who has the time and dedication to do the problems will gain much more than one who does not.