M. Scott Shell is an Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton in 2005 and is well known for his ability to communicate complex ideas and teach in an engaging manner. He is the recipient of a Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award, an NSF CAREER Award, a Hellman Family Faculty Fellowship, a Northrop Grumman Teaching Award, and a Sloan Research Fellowship.

• 1. Introduction and guide to this text; 2. Equilibrium and entropy; 3. Energy and how the microscopic world works; 4. Entropy and how the macroscopic world works; 5. The fundamental equation; 6. The first law and reversibility; 7. Legendre transforms and other potentials; 8. Maxwell relations and measurable quantities; 9. Gases; 10. Phase equilibrium; 11. Stability; 12. Solutions - fundamentals; 13. Solutions - advanced and special cases; 14. Solids; 15. The third law; 16. The canonical partition function; 17. Fluctuations; 18. Statistical mechanics of classical systems; 19. Other ensembles; 20. Reaction equilibrium; 21. Reaction coordinates and rates; 22. Molecular simulation methods.

'This textbook presents an accessible (but still rigorous) treatment of the material at a beginning-graduate level, including many worked examples. By making the concept of entropy central to the book, Professor Shell provides an organizing principle that makes it easier for the students to achieve mastery of this important area.' Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos, Princeton University