Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 65, Nos. 3/4, 1991. p. 825-826.
The book divides easily into three parts: An introductory one, an experimental part (or, more accurately, a materials science part), and, finally, the detailed description of several theoretical models. Most of the
introductory chapters are ,written by the editors and are a joy to read, especially for showing how engineering concepts are molded into physical thinking or language (such as thermodynamic energy, duals, localization,
renormalization, scaling, etc.). The experimental sections focus on the dependences of material properties on parameters such as temperature, composition, morphology, manufacture, treatment, changes in microstructure, and process rates...