Jennifer Coopersmith Knihy

The work is full of surprises, and some illuminating apercus. It makes one think about the subject in a new way - the connections made with dynamics, Hamilton and Lagrange are germane, and one never sees these in books on thermodynamics. Sir Aaron Klug, Nobel laureate, President of the Royal Society 1995-2000

Jennifer Coopersmith has written a most welcome book, the first historically and philosophically motivated full study since two classics written nearly a half-century ago... [She] has attempted and succeeded admirably I believe in her aim to write a modern book on the history and philosophy of the action principles, as well as to give the technical details. Chris Gray, American Journal of Physics