X-ray Compton scattering. By Malcolm J. Cooper, Peter E. Mijnarends, Nobuhiro Shiotani, Nobuhiko Sakai and Arun Bansil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. XVII + 374. Price GPB 95.10. ISBN 0 19 850168 4.

This book provides condensed matter and materials physicists with an authoritative, up-to-date, and very accessible account of the Compton scattering method, leading to a fundamental understanding of the electronic and magnetic properties of solid materials, both elements and compounds. Contents: 1. M. J. Cooper: Compton scattering as a probe of electron density distributions; 2. W. Schülke: The theory of Compton scattering; 3. H. Kawata and N. Shiotani: Instrumentation for synchrotron radiation based photon sources; 4. S. Manninen: Instrumentation for laboratory based photon sources; 5. E. Zukowski: Processing of experimental data; 6. N. K. Hansen: The reconstruction of momentum density; 7. L. Dobrzynski: Momentum density studies by the maximum entropy method; 8. P. E. Mijnarends, Y. Kubo, B. Barbiellini, A. Bansil: Momentum density studies in crystalline solids: theory; 9. N. Shiotani: Experimental studies of momentum density in metals and alloys; 10. N. Sakai: Spin-dependent Compton scattering; 11. N. Shiotani, H. Fretwell, M. J. Cooper: Compton scattering and the allied techniques.