Are there any good books out there that can serve as an introduction to thermodynamical formalism in dynamical systems? 


I know only Zinsmeister's short "Thermodynamical formalism and holomorphic dynamical systems", which is concerned mostly with holomorphic dynamics, and Ruelle's "Thermodynamical formalism", which is, alas, too dense and has very little intuition. Any suggestions?



Suggested reading for thermodynamic formalism
If you are interested in learning mathematical statistical physics (e.g. you would like to read Ruelle) then Minlos "Introduction to mathematical statistical physics" is a good choice for introduction to the area.
If you would like to learn the part of ergodic theory which is called "thermodanamic formalism" and you don't care much about statistical physics then Omri Sarig's lecture notes is a great source
<http://www.math.psu.edu/sarig/TDFnotes.pdf>


