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solanpolarn's review against another edition
4.0
Peter Atkins, as he seems to be known for his popular science books rather than the P W Atkins of his textbooks, is as good a popular science writer as he is a textbook writer. He manages the balance between keeping things simple (or at least not too technical) while not over-simplifying to the point of inaccuracy. This book about the Laws of Thermodynamics is part of the Oxford University Press series A Very Short Introduction, and like the others I have read in the series lives up to that description; it gives you the basics and in a very accessible way.
sarios's review against another edition
4.0
Atkins wrote the bible of physical chemistry, which was my companion through undergrad. He is a legend in the field. I was curious about his ability to explain thermo to the casual reader. A lot of the VSI series fail to encapsulate the breadth of the subject in an effective manner, but Atkins manages it here. His definiton of the third law strays towards being too mathematical, this is just nitpicking though.
louisedoeslife's review against another edition
3.0
I really am not a fan of these books and I would not recommend them to anyone hoping to gain some insight into a subject they do not study as they are written in a very academic way and often progress through a topic very quickly. However, I read this book because I was studying the subject and it did help to reinforce some of the more fundamental ideas. However, I still think there are probably books out that would have done a better job at these.
xaviershay's review against another edition
3.0
I needed a couple more concrete examples, but overall quite good. Negative temperature is a thing!
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