One common feature of new emerging technologies is the fusion of the very small (nano) scale
and the large scale engineering. The classical environment provided by single scale theories
as for instance by the classical hydrodynamics is not anymore satisfactory. The main challenge
is to keep the important details while still be able to keep the overall picture and
simplicity. It is the thermodynamics that addresses this challenge. Our main reason for writing
this book is to explain such general viewpoint of thermodynamics and to illustrate it on a very
wide range of examples. ¿ Contents Levels of description Hamiltonian mechanics Irreversible
evolution Reversible and irreversible evolution Multicomponent systems Contact geometry
Appendix: Mathematical aspects
