Thermodynamics Book - Dover Physics for Students & Engineers

After studying thermo for a bit, I have come to the conclusion that in order to really master it, you first need to understand it from the point of view of an engineer. Then from the point of view of a chemist. And finally, from the point of view of a physicist.This book falls into the first category, so I'd suggest reading it early. It has three great strengths: 1) it is only a hundred pages long, 2) it only treats systems with the very simplest of assumptions like constant heat capacities that are very helpful for the student, and 3) it has a couple of excellent and illuminating examples.The first example involves the thermodynamics of power plants. The second involves a mysterious, hypothetical device that has an input for compressed air and two outlets. The inventor claims that inputing compressed air at certain pressure will result in two output streams of air at different temperatures. Oh, the inventor also claims that the device has no moving parts and no batteries. Is this device possible? Van Ness gives a thermodynamic analysis using both the first and the second laws to show under what conditions such a device is at least consistent with the laws of thermodynamics. And yes, there are such conditions.Then van Ness reveals that such devices, called vortex tubes, actually exist and even have at some limited applications in the real world.These two discussions alone make this book a valuable read for anyone trying to understand the basics of thermodynamics. However, this book is still not a good first book on the subject, and the author is well aware of this fact. He states up front that this book is intended as a supplement rather than a main text.The final chapter is devoted to statistical matters. It seems that no one can write a thermodynamics book without giving into the temptation to say something about the statistical nature of entropy and the second law. Sometimes these discussions are helpful and sometimes they are not. Nonetheless, such treatments are guaranteed to do no justice to statistical mechanics, and this treatment is no exception. I did not care for his treatment of ensembles -- in particular the idea that systems in an ensemble can interact with one another, but it does allow him to get the results he's looking for in a reasonably quick and understandable way. Potentially illuminating or confusing depending, but the bottom line is not to rely on thermodynamics books for explanations of statistical mechanics. And this book loses no points from me for precisely this reason.