Concise, detailed, and transparently structured, this upper-level undergraduate textbook is an excellent resource for a one-semester course on thermodynamics for students majoring in physics, chemistry, or materials science. Throughout the seven chapters and three-part appendix, students benefit from numerous practical examples and solved problems ranging in broad scope from cosmic to molecular evolution; cloud formation to rubber elasticity; and Carnot engines to Monte Carlo simulation of phase equilibria.

Reinhard Hentschke received his Ph.D. from the University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA. Subsequently he was a staff scientist at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, where he concentrated on computer modelling of polymers. Since 1999, he has been Professor of theoretical physics (statistical mechanics of soft matter/chemical physics) at the Bergische Universität, Wuppertal, Germany. His research interests have frequently straddled the boundary between physics and chemistry.

Two Fundamental Laws of Nature.- Thermodynamic Functions.- Equilibrium and Stability.- Simple Phase Diagrams.- Microscopic Interactions.- Thermodynamics and Molecular Simulation.- Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics.