Electronic Structure and the Properties of Solids: The Physics of the Chemical Bond (Dover Books on Physics) [Paperback]

Walter A. Harrison (Author), Physics (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1989 | Series: Dover Books on Physics

This innovative text offers basic understanding of the electronic structure of covalent and ionic solids, simple metals, transition metals and their compounds. It also explains how to calculate dielectric, conducting, and bonding properties for each. Includes a useful Solid State Table of the Elements.

Product Details

• Paperback: 582 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (July 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486660214
• ISBN-13: 978-0486660219
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential book for condensed matter physicists, June 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Electronic Structure and the Properties of Solids: The Physics of the Chemical Bond (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

If you are studying the solid state physics, it is a necessary book for you. It covers various properties of almost all kinds of solid state materials and shows pretty new experimental data from reliable sources. This book also starts with a clear introduction in each chapter so that even for a beginner, it is easy to read. This book will be a good reference book for you to find out the definition of terminologies in this field. Personally, I use this book as a referece frequently.

This book is definitely not a book you can read through quickly but a book where you find out information through your life.

If you are a scientist and interested in solid state physics like semiconductor or metal, this is also a good book to get a good guide and introduction.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Without parallel in Materials Science literature, January 22, 2002

By 

Dr. Osvaldo F. Schilling (UFSC, Florianopolis, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Electronic Structure and the Properties of Solids: The Physics of the Chemical Bond (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

This book has no parallel in the literature of theoretical materials science. The information contained in the book allows first principle calculations of properties of important technological materials like perovskite oxides, semiconductors, etc. I would suggest the reader to consult the papers by R. Haydock and others in Solid State Physics, vol.35 of 1980 to
complemment the methods presented in the book.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Use it as a paper weight., November 26, 2006

By 

Newton Ooi (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Electronic Structure and the Properties of Solids: The Physics of the Chemical Bond (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

As a scientist who went thru the rigors of getting a PhD in an American public university, I have noticed many subtle but inefficient practices. One of the worst goes as follows. A certain promising doctoral student starts on his (or her) research. His advisor hands him a classic text to read. Said text is nigh incomprehensible, but our prodigal student endeavors and comes to gradually understand the text and apply it to his studies. He graduates, begins his career and eventually gets that tenured position. Years later when he supervises his first graduate student, he imparts said text upon a new sufferer and the process begins anew. This book by W. A. Harrison is such a text. It is extremely hard to read, the words are small, there are few images or graphs or plots, and the examples are not geared for the computer age. But, because this book came out when solid state simulations began to spread in use and multiple free codes came about, it was read and used by many scientists and apprentices. Nowadays, there are dozens of much better books that are much easier to read and understand. Yet I still encounter this text being used. Why? Because many academics fought thru it, are proud of the feat, and somehow intend their trainees to do the same.

I read this book after reading thru over a dozen other books in the same subject, and found this to be the hardest and least understandable. This book is often considered the Bible of electronic structure simulations. This is a correct statement in the worst sense possible because the number of people who understand the Bible is much less than those who swear by it; i.e. very similar to this book. Overall, I do not recommend buying it or reading it. Its only redeeming quality is the exhaustive number of equations.