User Comments on An Introduction to Thermal Physics (1)

Highly readable

Author: Brooke
Posted: November 3, 2005 at 10:57PM

I don't particularly enjoy reading textbooks, so I appreciate that this one is very straight-forward and direct. It just reads well. It explains concepts in a way that's easy to follow, and is probably my favorite text to date. It leaves most proofs out of the general body of the text, directing the reader either to its well-written appendix, or to very specific citations, and in those cases, the references are always the same two books, one of which I already own from a previous class. The author does have a rather annoying habit of re-using some of same variables w/in the same chapter. Admittably, most of the variable choices are historical, so there's not much of a way around it, but sometimes he doesn't give any reason for his choice, so I'm left to believe he likes reusing the same letter. It isn't too much of a problem though, since the context for the variable is immediately available. I would have to say that despite his occasionally repeative variable choice, the text is extremely clear.