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Three Laws of Nature: A Little Book on Thermodynamics
A short and entertaining introduction to thermodynamics that uses real-world examples to explain accessibly an important but subtle scientific theory
A romantic description of the second law of thermodynamics is that the universe becomes increasingly disordered. But what does that actually mean? Starting with an overview of the three laws of thermodynamics, MacArthur “genius grant" winner R. Stephen Berry explains in this short book the fundamentals of a fundamental science. Readers learn both the history of thermodynamics, which began with attempts to solve everyday engineering problems, and ongoing controversy and unsolved puzzles. The exposition, suitable for both students and armchair physicists, requires no previous knowledge of the subject and only the simplest mathematics, taught as needed.
With this better understanding of one science, readers also gain an appreciation of the role of research in science, the provisional nature of scientific theory, and the ways scientific exploration can uncover fundamental truths. Thus, from a science of everyday experience, we learn about the nature of the universe.
A romantic description of the second law of thermodynamics is that the universe becomes increasingly disordered. But what does that actually mean? Starting with an overview of the three laws of thermodynamics, MacArthur “genius grant" winner R. Stephen Berry explains in this short book the fundamentals of a fundamental science. Readers learn both the history of thermodynamics, which began with attempts to solve everyday engineering problems, and ongoing controversy and unsolved puzzles. The exposition, suitable for both students and armchair physicists, requires no previous knowledge of the subject and only the simplest mathematics, taught as needed.
With this better understanding of one science, readers also gain an appreciation of the role of research in science, the provisional nature of scientific theory, and the ways scientific exploration can uncover fundamental truths. Thus, from a science of everyday experience, we learn about the nature of the universe.
- GenresPhysicsScienceNonfiction
184 pages, Hardcover
Published March 12, 2019
29 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 9, 2021
“The Three Laws of Nature” is a good tour on the intellectual history of basic thermodynamics, mostly focusing on characterizing equilibrium systems, epitomized with Cornot’s cycle, to the discovery of the Boltzmann law, or the probability density function, who’s integral defines to the Botlzmann-Maxwell distribution, and finally to the connections thermodynamics (and statistical mechanics) have to the study of quantum phenomena.
The approach the text takes is mostly historical, though still providing enough detail for a layman to grasp the basic mechanism that is being discussed. So not only is Sadi Cornot shown in portrait, and his background somewhat discussed, and his cycle defined, but it is also visualized in a 2-dimensional plot, showing the interchange of isothermal and adiabatic segments within the cycle. The integration between some-mechanism and historical context is great, and I think a student being introduced to these ideas the first time will benefit from seeing how concrete challenges of instrumenting steam-systems to generate heat and work informed the abstraction and formulae.
What I especially appreciated about the text was that it not only integrated some of the technical discussion (at a definitional/explanations level) and the history, but there was also a good amount of discussion on the philosophy of thermodynamics (and statistical mechanics). What does it mean for mechanical phenomena to be reversible? What is the statistical interpretation of theorems/results in thermodynamics vs those in classical mechanical systems (e.g. how is something “almost always” true, but not exactly always true etc.). Discussions on entropy (though I wish this took up more of the content), how are the “statistical” interpretations in thermodynamics different from the “statistical” (or perhaps more accurately, probabilistic) statements found in quantum mechanics? Etc.
No, this isn’t a full textbook, not even close. However, it serves its purpose well as an introductory bridge on the topic. I thought it was comparable or slightly better than Oxford University Press “The Three Laws of Thermodynamics” another “short text”. Overall, a conditional recommend for those who are coming from another allied field (computing, mathematics, etc.) and need to be exposed to these ideas, or a general layman reader who’s interested in the topic. Otherwise, someone who’s taken a course in the area or is in the physics/engineering fields that leverage this knowledge regularly, stay away; it'll be too elementary.
The approach the text takes is mostly historical, though still providing enough detail for a layman to grasp the basic mechanism that is being discussed. So not only is Sadi Cornot shown in portrait, and his background somewhat discussed, and his cycle defined, but it is also visualized in a 2-dimensional plot, showing the interchange of isothermal and adiabatic segments within the cycle. The integration between some-mechanism and historical context is great, and I think a student being introduced to these ideas the first time will benefit from seeing how concrete challenges of instrumenting steam-systems to generate heat and work informed the abstraction and formulae.
What I especially appreciated about the text was that it not only integrated some of the technical discussion (at a definitional/explanations level) and the history, but there was also a good amount of discussion on the philosophy of thermodynamics (and statistical mechanics). What does it mean for mechanical phenomena to be reversible? What is the statistical interpretation of theorems/results in thermodynamics vs those in classical mechanical systems (e.g. how is something “almost always” true, but not exactly always true etc.). Discussions on entropy (though I wish this took up more of the content), how are the “statistical” interpretations in thermodynamics different from the “statistical” (or perhaps more accurately, probabilistic) statements found in quantum mechanics? Etc.
No, this isn’t a full textbook, not even close. However, it serves its purpose well as an introductory bridge on the topic. I thought it was comparable or slightly better than Oxford University Press “The Three Laws of Thermodynamics” another “short text”. Overall, a conditional recommend for those who are coming from another allied field (computing, mathematics, etc.) and need to be exposed to these ideas, or a general layman reader who’s interested in the topic. Otherwise, someone who’s taken a course in the area or is in the physics/engineering fields that leverage this knowledge regularly, stay away; it'll be too elementary.
June 16, 2019
Don’t get the audible version of this book. It’s an OK summary of thermodynamics for someone who has no experience with the topic. It’s an ok refresher for someone who took a course a long time ago. Kind of lightweight for engineers or scientists. I knew that going in. The problem I had was that the reader spoke in a monotone and made the book seem dull. I should have bought the kindle version
January 18, 2024
An OK summary of theajor thermodynamic principles but with the classic pitfalls of an expert explaining their passion to what they envision as the layman. Author could have done a much better job in that respect. The result is heavy on technical terminology, making the assumption that the listener will know what an integral are, or how subscript is used in math, etc. more examples would have been nice. Would have been nice to touch on perpetual motion machines, as those are truly interesting to layman. Otherwise, a decent summary. Audible was super monotone, spoken by a dude who put a weird bougie accent on the end of any word that ended a sentence. hard to not notice once you notice it.
May 29, 2019
The line between being repetitive and making sure the main points are emphasized was crossed a few times, but I got the two or three nuggets for teaching I look for when reading popular treatments like this. Fun read if you're into thermo and the history of science.
June 29, 2019
A little physics re-learned.
Lots of familiar names.
Concepts are hard for my thick head.
Lots of familiar names.
Concepts are hard for my thick head.
December 2, 2023
The thing about repetition is that it repeats.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews