From the reviews: "... Besides the fact that the author's treatment of large deviations is a nice contribution to the literature on the subject, his book has the virue that it provides a beautifully unified and mathematically appealing account of certain aspects of statistical mechanics. ... Furthermore, he does not make the mistake of assuming that his mathematical audience will be familiar with the physics and has done an admireable job of explaining the necessary physical background. Finally, it is clear that the author's book is the product of many painstaking hours of work; and the reviewer is confident that its readers will benefit from his efforts." D. Stroock in Mathematical Reviews 1985 "... Each chapter of the book is followed by a notes section and by a problems section. There are over 100 problems, many of which have hints. The book may be recommended as a text, it provides a completly self-contained reading ..." S. Pogosian in