Statistical Mechanics And Thermodynamics Textbook.

[Faizan Samad]

This is A very general question. I will be taking physics 112 at Cal (in the future) which is basically stat mech. Almost all professors use Kittel and Kroemer but I’ve heard it’s god awful (I can attest to this having read a little myself). Does anyone know of a secondary textbook that is of the same rigor of Kittel and kroemer but actually good? Thanks.

 

[marcusl]

I liked Reif’s Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics. Students tend to either love it or hate, based mostly on whether they like Reif’s copious explanations (it’s a long book). I found the text helped me understand concepts and equations, so I’m in the first camp.

This book is at an advanced level, but he wrote a more basic book for sophomores/juniors (“Little Reif”) that is vol. 5 of the Berkeley undergrad physics series. I didn’t use it, but others like it so you might take a look. A used copy should be affordable (it may even be out of print).

 

[Dr Transport]

Reif wrote a book for the Berkeley series, it is sometimes referred to as Baby Reif and is at the level of Kittel and Kroemer.

 

[robphy]

This might be helpful.
http://web.mit.edu/asf/www/Images/CheatSheetScans/PHYS112_1.jpg

part of
http://web.mit.edu/asf/www/CheatSheetsIndex.html

 

[vanhees71]

A really modern treatment at the undergrad level is

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199595070/?tag=pfamazon01-20