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First Edition (1981) ; 12th Printing Thus (2008) . Near Fine in Wraps: shows mild rubbing to the outside edges of the panels and corner tips, a couple tiny spots of soil to the lower fore-edge and faint shelf-soiling to the bottom edge of the text block; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A bright, clean working copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing the mildest wear and the other noted imperfections. Close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. Large 8vo (9.75 x 6.75 x 1 inches) . Translated by J. B. Sykes and R. N. Franklin . Language: English. Weight: 27 ounces. The first English Edition was published in 1981 from the Russian text published in 1979. Paperback. This is an outstanding book. The former students of the great Russian physicist Lev Landau wrote a text based on his teaching and his papers, as well as on their own work. This is the most comprehensive introductory graduate or advanced undergraduate text in physical kinetics available. It builds up from the fundamentals, often in a general way, to widespread applications, to technology and geophysics. This volume is mainly concerned with a systematic development of the theory of plasmas, the authority being firmly rooted in the pioneering work of Landau. Corresponding results are also given for partially ionized plasmas, relativistic plasmas, degenerate or non-ideal plasmas and solid state plasmas. This is probably the best book written on the physical basis of (classical and quantum) kinetic phenomena. That said, the reader should be aware the book is written in the famous Landau style: derivations are carried out based on strong physical intuition and with minimum mathematical detailing and little rigour; much is expected from the reader. The rewards are high for those who (can) pursue the thing: you will be able to muse your collaborators by deriving all those nonlinear PDEs and at the same time to stand for or against recent experimental data by handwaving arguments (that depends a little bit on your brainware, too.). This book together with the Fluid Mechanics and the Electrodynamics of Continuous Media titles of the same series are almost everything you need to get a solid ground in the study of plasma physics. It explains in great detail and rigour the theory of the processes ocurring in several systems not in statistical equilibrium. The book opens with a complete account of the transport processes in gases not in equilibrium, certainly the most representative physical system not in equilibrium. The Boltzmann transport equation is derived in a general and elegant way in this chapter. After a second chapter which developes a mathematical technique called the diffusion approximation, the book discusses various processes occurring in several systems not in equilibrium, notably the processes occurring in plasmas. Other systems, such as insulators, quantum liquids, metals etc are discussed. In a final chapter, it developes the kinetics of phase transitions, in a magnific and concise form. Really this is a superb book, where the reader will learn with detail all these subjects. ; Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall; xi, 452 pages.
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