Four Laws That Drive the Universe
ISBN:9780199232369 read summary

Peter Atkins' "Four Laws" is a small book that tackles a big subject. Probably the biggest difficulty for the general reader would be the Boltzmann distribution, that Atkins introduces in the first chapter. The rest of the book explains heat, energy, and work (First Law); entropy, efficiency, and the Carnot cycle (Second Law); free (Gibbs) energy and chemistry; and finally absolute zero and negative absolute temperature (Third Law).

The discussion is pretty concrete, and uses a mixture of classical and statistical concepts. For example, entropy is defined first as q/T, and later as k*log(W). Cogent explanations, drawings, formulas, and numeric examples help explain the ideas. However, many important concepts are left underexplained. These include energy, heat, and the equivalence between the two definitions of entropy quoted above. Another under-explained concept is enthalpy, which is defined as U + pV with literally no discussion about why the pV term appears in that formula. Finally, I would have liked more discussion about applications to astronomy, cosmology, and biology.

"Four Laws" is more quantitative than the average popular science book, but it is not a textbook either. The main prerequisite for this book, I think, would be some level of comfort with basic (introductory) high-school physics and algebra (simple formulas, the exponential function). Readers who meet those prerequisites, and who don't mind doing a bit of work, could get a lot out of it.

Thermodynamics is by no means an easy subject to understand, with all its abstractness and subtleties. The proper textbooks out there on the subject all leave a lot to be desired in terms of making the subject easy to understand. Atkins attempts to remedy these problems with this small book, and I think he succeeds to some extent. Without using a lot of math and graphs, Atkins introduces the four laws of classical thermodynamics, from both a "normal" (continuum?) perspective and a molecular perspective. The text is organized very logically. The examples given certainly illustrate the point, but aren't expressed in the context of everyday occurrences enough such that a non-scientific reader could easily follow along. The tone of writing is very pleasant and not at all dry, so that while not a gripping read, you certainly won't dread turning the pages.

I do think that this book lacks a well-defined audience; some points are practically spoon-fed to you, while others assume you've taken a university-level course on thermo before. Those of us that use thermodynamics (physics, engineering, chemistry, etc., and all of the sub-disciplines within) each approach the subject matter a little differently, so I appreciate that a truly general approach to thermodynamics is not a trivial undertaking. However, I think that the text would be better if more focused for either those with or those without some university experience. Regardless of the minor short-comings, I heartily recommend this book as a refresher on the laws of thermodynamics, or as a companion to a course on thermodynamics, regardless of your discipline.

As a material science student, I used to find thermodynamics concept very difficult to understand. They're just bunch of numbers with no physical significance except for making the students confused.

Reading this book gives me deeper understanding on many important ideas in thermodynamics: what they actually mean by enthalpy; how a seemingly simple Carnot machine can lead to something as fundamental as entropy; how the Boltzmann statistics is not just a trivial equation; and many more.

Prof. Atkins explained all this ideas using the analogy that I'm sure will remain forever in your head (go and check the 'sneezing in the busy street' analogy to describe degree of disorder in high temperature)

Overall, it's a simple yet powerful book that everyone interested in understanding thermodynamics concept should have.

I admire Dr Atkins -- his pivotal textbook "Physical Chemistry" was adopted by my college professor years ago when I took P-Chem -- was rigorous and challenging. However, this small book, readable in about four hours, attempts to overview the laws of thermodynamics in a conversational and non-mathematical manner. I think many points are well made, supplemented with minimal diagrams and tables. I am confused however as to whom this book was written: hard core readers can easily find calculus based textbooks to explore these topics, and casual readers can read about thermodynamics in a general science textbook. By trying to reach out to both reader groups, the author doesn't really satisfy either. I think the interested reader should hold out for the paperback version compared to this overpriced and petite hardcover book.

Compact and concise review of 4 laws of thermodynamics. Book explains the laws easily, using insightful examples, so almost anyone could read it.