Structure and chemistry of crystalline solids. By B. E. Douglas and S.-M. Ho. Pp. x + 346. New York: Springer Science and Business Media, 2006. Price (hardback) EUR 99.95, USD 129.00, GBP 77.00. ISBN 978-0-387-26147-8.

Most chemists, metallurgists, mineralogists, geologists and workers in material sciences need a simple system and notation for describing crystal structures. Structure and chemistry of crystalline solids presents a widely applicable system with simple notation giving important information about the structure and the chemical environment of ions or molecules. It is easily understood and used by those concerned with applications dependent on structure–property relationships. Insight into crystal structures, including some complex silicates, is aided by the use of the CrystalMaker computer program. The bundled CD-ROM, which uses CrystalMaker for instruction and demos on both Windows and Macintosh platforms, allows the user to manipulate the structures. Written for: chemists, materials scientists, metallurgists, mineralogists and geologists, graduate students in solid-state chemistry and related areas in materials science. Contents: 1. Introduction, 2. Classification of crystals, point groups and space groups, 3. Close packing and the PTOT System, 4. Crystal structures of the elements, 5. Crystal structures involving P and O layers, 6. Crystal structures involving P and T layers, 7. Crystal structures involving P, T and O layers, 8. Crystal structures with multiple layers, 9. Crystal structures of some intermetallic compounds, 10. Crystal structures of silica and metal silicates, 11. Crystal structures of organic compounds, 12. Predicting structures and assigning notations.