This text provides a firm grounding in the laws and principles of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics that are essential to the study of physics. It presents the subject in a remarkably fresh, clear, and understandable manner, and is based on the most up-to-date research in the field. This sets the text apart from other books serving the same course market, as does its unique approach, which treats thermodynamics as an application of probability theory. Problems are included at the end of each chapter, and supplementary sections include review questions, exercises and solutions. The...