In the preface to his excellent textbook, Thermodynamics: Principles and Applications (Wiley-Interscience, 1971), Frank C. Andrews remarks, "It is almost an act of intellectual arrogance to write another thermodynamics text these days, so many and varied are the texts already available." Since I first read it, Andrews's comment has been my standard for judging new thermodynamics textbooks: what does a new book offer that is significantly different, and better, than one of the many fine books already on my shelf? Modern Thermodynamics by Dilip Kondepudi, Professor of Chemistry at Wake Forest University, and 1977 Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine does provide something quite different: a historically conscious, integrated approach to both equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics.

The essential role of fluctuations in determining the properties of equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems was first elucidated by Einstein at the turn of the century. Subsequently, Lars Onsager used fluctuation theory to demonstrate the famous reciprocal relations that provide the basis for the theory of linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Unfortunately, thermodynamics is often taught to chemists as if it only applies to uniform equilibrium systems. Fluctuations are rarely mentioned. One of the unusual features of this book is that it begins by explicitly discussing both nonuniform and nonequilibrium systems. While most of the traditional topics of a course in chemical thermodynamics are included in this book, these applications are treated in the context of a more general formalism that can be used to discuss both linear and nonlinear nonequilibrium systems.

Another interesting and important feature of this book is the integration of historical material into the presentation. While the presentation follows the usual sequencepreliminary concepts, first law, second law, etc.the ideas are placed in a historical context as they are developed. As expected, there is considerable emphasis on the contributions of Theophile De Donder, founder of the Brussels school of thermodynamics. The text is generously illustrated with portraits of many of the important figures in the development of thermodynamics. The stories and pictures help to make the subject come alive.

The first 11 chapters of the book provide material for a one-semester course in equilibrium thermodynamics. The overall coverage in this section is fairly standard, including real gases, solutions, electrochemical systems, and phase transitions. As noted above, the important difference in this presentation is that the traditional topics are presented in terms of a general formalism that leads naturally to the discussion of both nonuniform and nonequilibrium systems. Chapters 12-19 explicitly consider fluctuations and stability theory, linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics, and, finally, nonlinear systems and dissipative structures. Each chapter is followed by a number of problems and students are encouraged to use Mathematica or Maple to do the more tedious calculations. A brief appendix to Chapter 1 includes some sample Mathematica codes. The book has relatively few worked examples, however, so students who need to see a lot of examples will have to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, there are no worked examples in Chapters 12-19.

Since I first learned nonequilibrium thermodynamics from Prigogine's earlier book, Introduction to the Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes (Interscience, 1961), I found the treatment in the second part of the book to be clear and logical. I think that most readers will agree. There is a nice treatment of Gaussian fluctuation theory and a proof of the Onsager reciprocal relations. Chapters 18 and 19 provide an introduction to the most important ideas in nonlinear nonequilibrium thermodynamics, including stability analysis. The book concludes with a chapter on the frontiers of research in thermodynamics.

As the title promises, this book is a modern treatment of the full scope of thermodynamics emphasizing the importance of fluctuations. I hope that the appearance of this accessible treatment will stimulate faculty to rethink their teaching of thermodynamics and present it as a general and powerful way to understand both equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems.