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'Excellent … a welcome addition to the literature on the subject.'— ScienceBefore the publication of this standard, oft-cited book, there were few if any statistical-mechanics texts that incorporated reviews of both fundamental principles and recent developments in the field.In this volume, Professor Hill offers just such a dual presentation — a useful account of basic theory and of its applications, made accessible in a comprehensive format. The book opens with concise, unusually clear introductory chapters on classical statistical mechanics, quantum statistical mechanics and the relation of statistical mechanics to thermodynamics. Then follows a wide-ranging, detailed examination of various applications. Chapter 4 deals with fluctuations. The fifth chapter treats the theory of imperfect gases and condensation, largely following Mayer's theory but also giving some new, alternative derivations and discussing in the final section Yang and Lee's theory. The sixth chapter is devoted to a discussion of distribution functions and the theory of the liquid state. Chapter 7 deals with nearest-neighbor (Ising) lattice statistics, while the last chapter discusses free-volume and hole theories of liquids and solids.Written primarily for graduate students and researchers in chemistry, physics and biology who already have some acquaintance with statistical mechanics, the book lends itself to use as a text for a second course in statistical mechanics, as a supplement to a first course or for self-study or reference. The level is neither introductory nor highly sophisticated; the author has generally emphasized material that is not available in other books. In addition, selected bibliographic references at the end of each chapter suggest supplementary reading.

'A large number of exercises of a broad range of difficulty make this book even more useful…a good addition to the literature on thermodynamics at the undergraduate level.'— Philosophical MagazineAlthough written on an introductory level, this wide-ranging text provides extensive coverage of topics of current interest in equilibrium statistical mechanics. Indeed, certain traditional topics are given somewhat condensed treatment to allow room for a survey of more recent advances.The book is divided into four major sections. Part I deals with the principles of quantum statistical mechanics and includes discussions of energy levels, states and eigenfunctions, degeneracy and other topics. Part II examines systems composed of independent molecules or of other independent subsystems. Topics range from ideal monatomic gas and monatomic crystals to polyatomic gas and configuration of polymer molecules and rubber elasticity. An examination of systems of interacting molecules comprises the nine chapters in Part Ill, reviewing such subjects as lattice statistics, imperfect gases and dilute liquid solutions. Part IV covers quantum statistics and includes sections on Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics, photon gas and free-volume theories of quantum liquids.Each chapter includes problems varying in difficulty — ranging from simple numerical exercises to small-scale'research'propositions. In addition, supplementary reading lists for each chapter invite students to pursue the subject at a more advanced level. Readers are assumed to have studied thermodynamics, calculus, elementary differential equations and elementary quantum mechanics.Because of the flexibility of the chapter arrangements, this book especially lends itself to use in a one-or two-semester graduate course in chemistry, a one-semester senior or graduate course in physics or an introductory course in statistical mechanics.