Statistical Physics : Statics, Dynamics and Renormalization

The material presented in this invaluable textbook has been tested in two courses. One of these is a graduate-level survey of statistical physics; the other, a rather personal perspective on critical behavior. Thus, this book defines a progression starting at the book-learning part of graduate education and ending in the midst of topics at the research level. To supplement the research-level side the book includes some research papers. Several of these are classics in the field, including a suite of six works on self-organized criticality and complexity, a pair on diffusion-limited aggregation, some papers on correlations near critical points, a few of the basic sources on the development of the real-space renormalization group, and several papers on magnetic behavior in a plain geometry. In addition, the author has included a few of his own papers.

"... providing tools appropriate to the most active and important new research areas in statistical physics." -- Ed Ott, University of Maryland

"Avoiding any heavy formalism, Kadanoff has chosen to introduce the main concepts through simple models." -- Edouard Brezin, Ecole Normale de Superieure, Paris

"Both the text and the reprints display Kadanoff's ingenuity, imagination, and clarity. They're worth having and reading." -- Physics Today, 2001

"Kandoff is a famous and reliable guide. At 23 punds this is a good buy." -- Progress in Quantum Electronics, 2002

"This wonderful book excels not only in the topics covered but also in the author's unique approach to these topics." -- Journal of Statistical Physics, Dec 2001

An elegant and rather personal account of statistical mechanics that stands out from the pack for many reasons. -- Nigel Goldenfeld, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Highly recommended as an excellent graduate textbook on statistical physics -- Mathematical Reviews, 2003

This book can serve both as the basis of a modern statistical physics course and a guide to modern developments. -- Contemporary Physics, 2003

This book is full of such goodies and is a pleasuer to read and contemplate. -- Joel L Lebowitz, Rutgers University

This is a mixture of pedagogy, history and original thoughts with many startling insights. -- Benjamin Widom, Cornell University