[.ca] Warmth Disperses and Time Passes: The History of Heat (ISBN 0375753729)

From Amazon.com:
Warmth Disperses and Time Passes deals with, among other things, "Maxwell's Demon," a metaphorical device invented by James Clerk Maxwell a century and a half ago in an attempt to expose flaws in the second law of thermodynamics. This imaginary demon would sit between two flasks of air and allow only warm air molecules to enter the warmer flask. This would cause heat to flow uphill--a death knell for the second law if it were possible. Only it wasn't; it was the death knell for the demon instead. Successive "improved" demons were invented by later physicists, but all have subsequently been killed. The realization that a live demon is impossible has served to further strengthen the second law. Hans von Baeyer is almost as much historian as scientist. As he walks us through the evolution of scientific understanding of thermodynamics, he stops to dwell on the intellectual and societal framework that allowed the physicists of the time to make their respective scientific leaps. This blend of science and history, combined with von Baeyer's journalistic approach, creates a book that is both exceedingly accessible and surprisingly illuminating. --Eric Warner

Where scientific knowledge starts to collapse:
Ok, so science is more fun when you leave school than it is when you are there. That's because there are books like this (previously published under the more appropriate title of Maxwells Demon). This is a book on the history of heat - I could never imagine anyone writing a book like that - which one would actually finish and not condemn to the bonfire (more heat!). But this is an interesting and informative account where you will meet all the names from your physics lessons, Carnot, Kelvin. Maxwell, Faraday, Ampere. It is important to read this book if you want to understand the world of quantum mechanics. This is the starting point - the point where it all started to go wrong for physics - in the form of Maxwells demon, black body radiation and the double slit experiment. Up to this point Science made sense - now we all know it was a sham and science no longer makes sense - if you want to know why start here!

Physical chemistry is not the nightmare it once was.:
A good book to read as you struggle with the monster of Physical Chemistry!!! I found it was a good way to inspire me to get excited about doing my thermodynamics homework...and hay my grade actually went up on the next exam! :) It tells you who the heck Carnot, Clausius, and Joule are. Lord Kelvin (of the kelvin scale) was also known as Willian Thomson..the Thomson of the dreaded Joule-Thomson coefficient...but I give the story away.

On the Trail of a Demonic Idea:
This is an enjoyable history of thermodynamics. Maxwell's Demon does not actually come into it until about half-way through, and then becomes, gradually, the focus. Von Baeyer's approach is to advance his topic short chapter by short chapter. Each chapter treats the work of a man (alas, in science women have not, until recently, played much of a part) as it relates to the growing knowledge of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The ideas, the experiments, the intellectual milieu, and the subject's life are all fair game in these little essays, and all are treated in a clear, serious, but still light-hearted way. The writing is very pleasing, the author's humane, humorous and cultured personality shines through. The point of the book, of course, is to explore the Second Law of Thermodynamics, using the Demon invented by the physicist Maxwell. It has proved a remarkably troublesome sprite in spite of all the attempts to exorcise it over the years. Here you will learn some thermodynamics and some history, and when you are done you will have a general idea of the issues swirling around the notion of entropy. After reading this book, you very well might want to get your feet wet in an introductory text on thermodynamics, now that you know some of the issues in play. Or, if you already know some, this will fill in the human background, and may alert you to some current thinking. One of the current issues is the relationship between the entropy from Information Theory and the entropy from Thermodynamics. As various folks keep trying to conflate them, our author reports on it. The discussion is detailed enough to actually convey some of the ideas that trouble modern researchers, and tantalizing enough to make the reader want to know even more. What else could one want from a popular book on the subject?

Have fun with this book !:
This is the best book about thermodynamics I have ever read ! In my opinion, it makes more to the understanding of this difficult and so misundertood discipline than any other "theoretical" book. Reading this is a funny and pleasant experience! It's like an adventure book, as it relives the history of the men who built the discipline of thermodynamics, and the curious and interesting circustances that brought them to their discoveries. some of that men and their histories I have never heard about!! Congratulations to Von Baeyer, who has done an outstanding and incredible job!!

Excellent:
A beautiful book that explains thermodynamics clearly for the layman. I also purchased the author's other book "Taming the atom" which was yet another masterpiece.