I'm doing an undergrad research project that lies at the intersection of biology and nonequilibrium thermodynamics, but I'm starting to realize almost none of my equilibrium thermo/stat mech knowledge carries over.
What's a good book on this subject that covers both near-equilibrium (e.g. linear response) results, as well as more recent far-from-equilibrium (e.g. Jarzynski and Crooks equalities) results? Coverage of nonequilibrium steady states and simulation methods is a plus.
I'm going for a physical understanding, not complete mathematical rigor; I know real/complex analysis but not, say, probability theory or functional analysis.
Answer
You may want to check 'Elements of Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics' by V. Balakrishnan. The book does not cover too large a ground but focuses on the basic probabilistic tools of the subject. It has plenty of appendixes to help the reader not get distracted by technical details. Its most appealing attribute is that it makes the reader feel that the subject follows logically from known basic physics instead of making a leap into the subject by starting from Onsager relations and the likes.
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