This book is the antithesis of encyclopedic texts written to appease specialists. Here readers find an introduction to statistical mechanics that is sufficiently simple and free from prior requirements that it may be understood quickly and comfortably. - Readers use statistical mechanics in the opening pages. - Ideally suited for self-study or lectures featuring brief expositions with examples. - Presented at the undergraduate level but is well suited for graduate preparation. - Gives unique intuitive developments of probability distributions, entropy, information, and chemical potentials not found elsewhere. - Richly illustrated with applications to chemistry, physics, and biology.