Predictive statistical mechanics. A nonequilibrium ensemble formalism (Q5956198)

The most remarkable thing about this book is the fluent eloquence and unflinching enthusiasm of the authors which together do much to disguise the fact that their subject matter is so bleak and complex that for a long time to come any scientific study is bound to be so \textit{ad hoc}, approximate and heuristic that rigorous mathematics can only be incongruous in the landscape. The other remarkable feature is the English used which does not belong to any of the four well-recognized versions -- namely, English, American, Australian and Indian. The departures from the familiar rules of grammar and syntax are, at least to this reviewer, more endearing than jarring. As English becomes the language of the world, its variations and dialects are bound to multiply, and this can only enrich the language. There was a time when publishers of technical books by authors whose English was not one of the conventional varieties used to get the language doctored by someone with more pedantic and conventional views on grammar and syntax. This has not been done in the present case, and the reviewer heartily commends the publishers for this enlightened approach. Authors who have something worthwhile to say must be allowed so to do in their own way, and this approach is quite likely to enrich the quality of the presentation as well as the varieties of the language. The book is addressed to workers engaged in theoretical and experimental study of complex mechanical (mostly quantum) systems nowhere near equilibria. No attempt has been made to give introductory definitions of the systems or the problems or the methodology used which could have widened the audience. Though there are considerable number of mathematical equations in the book, it is largely addressed to an audience whose interests in the subject are mostly experimental but who need to know something about the current arguments in the theoretical arena. The book has a rich bibliography with 419 entries, though in view of what has been said in the preceding paragraph, it is not surprising that more mathematical and rigorous works such as those of \textit{I. Pitowsky} [Quantum probability -- quantum logic. Lecture Notes in Physics, 321. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1989; Zbl 0668.60096)], \textit{D. Ruelle} [Statistical mechanics. Rigorous results. (The Mathematical Physics Monographs Series), New York-Amsterdam: W. A. Benjamin (1969; Zbl 0177.57301)] and \textit{A. I. Khinchin} [Mathematical foundations of information theory. New York: Dover Publications (1957; Zbl 0088.10404)], among others, have been excluded. All in all, this book makes a useful addition to the growing literature on nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, which is enlightening about certain current issues in the subject, and is colourful in its eloquent but unconventional English.