This book is the distilled essence of the author teaching statistical mechanics to juniors, seniors and graduate students for over 50 years in various course settings. It uses a unique approach that leads naturally into the development of all possible ensembles. Much of the later chapters on polymers has previously been available only in the literature. Throughout the book, the assumption is made that the reader is still relatively raw, and mathematical detail is provided that other books leave to the abilities of the reader. While this produces a plethora of equations that mature scientists...

This book is the distilled essence of the author teaching statistical mechanics to juniors, seniors and graduate students for over 50 years in various course settings. It uses a unique approach that leads naturally into the development of all possible ensembles. Much of the later chapters on polymers has previously been available only in the literature. Throughout the book, the assumption is made that the reader is still relatively raw, and mathematical detail is provided that other books leave to the abilities of the reader. While this produces a plethora of equations that mature scientists...