Best Books on Thermodynamics & Statistical Mechanics

[YotaYota]

Hi.

I'm reading my third year of a Swedish engineering degree and we are about to read Statistical Mechanics. The scope of this course is Thermodynamics (although we have already had a small course in it), Statistical Mechanics and some Quantum statistics.
The course book is "Concepts in Thermal Physics" (2nd) by Blundell : https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Thermal-Physics-2nd-Second/dp/B004Y41264/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350887012&sr=1-3&keywords=Concepts+in+Thermal+Physics+2nd.
However, I find myself regretting buying most of my textbooks, that's why I'm posting here now :)
My question is: Are there any really good textbooks on these subjects? They need not cover all the subjects in this course, I'm more interested in buying books that is fun to have in my bookshelf even after the course. What I'm really asking is: what the 'bibles' on these subjects are.

Thankful for any help!
Johannes

 

[E_M_C]

Hi Johannes,

I've previewed the "Concepts in Thermal Physics" textbook on google books, and it seems to be a good introductory book to learn from. My only concern is the small number of exercises at the end of each chapter.

I'm not completely certain what books would constitute a "Bible" on Stat Mech, but some of the more widely used textbooks here in the US are Kittel & Kromer's Thermal Physics and Schroeder's Thermal Physics (to name just a few). I personally don't believe these books are suitable for an introduction to Stat Mech. If you're new to the subject, I'd recommend Stowe's An Introduction to Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics and/or Seddon and Gale's Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics. Hope that helps, good luck!

 

[cragar]

An Introduction to Thermal Physics by Daniel V. Schroeder is a good thermal book

 

[Michael Monte]

An Introduction to Thermal Physics by Daniel V. Schroeder is a good thermal book

this is indeed a very good book. I used it before in my lectures about statistically thermo