From the reviews: "This highly recommended textbook builds bridges between elementary physics and research activities. Its main strength lies in its mixture of simplified theory in the main text and deeper exploration in the solved problems. It addresses key concepts and typical aspects of atoms, molecules and solids. ... The numerous graphs and problems with solutions make this book particularly useful for self-studying an extremely wide scope of the structure of matter." (Peter Enders, Optics and Photonics News, February, 2008)