Solid State Physics emphasizes a few fundamental principles and extracts from them a wealth of information. This approach also unifies an enormous and diverse subject which seems to consist of too many disjoint pieces. The book starts with the absolutely minimum of formal tools, emphasizes the basic principles, and employs physical reasoning (" a little thinking and imagination" to quote R. Feynman) to obtain results. Continuous comparison with experimental data leads naturally to a gradual refinement of the concepts and to more sophisticated methods. After the initial overview with an emphasis on the physical concepts and the derivation of results by dimensional analysis, The Physics of Solids deals with the Jellium Model (JM) and the Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO) approaches to solids and introduces the basic concepts and information regarding metals and semiconductors.

PREFACE.- PART ONE: AN OVERVIEW.- KEY POINTS SUMMARIZED.- BASIC PRINCIPLES IN ACTION.- A FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH CONDENSED MATTER.- PART TWO: TWO SIMPLE MODELS FOR SOLIDS.- THE JELLIUM MODEL AND METALS, I.- THE JELLIUM MODEL AND METALS, II.- SOLIDS AS SUPERGIANT MOLECULES: LCAO.- SEMICONDUCTORS AND OTHER TETRAVALENT SOLIDS.- BEYOND THE JM AND LCAO: AN OUTLINE.- PART THREE: MORE ABOUT PERIODICITY & ITS CONSEQUENCES.- CRYSTAL STRUCTURE AND IONIC VIBRATIONS.- ELECTRONS IN PERIODIC MEDIA: RESPONSE IN THE PRESENCE OF A STATIC MAGNETIC FIELD.- CALCULATING THE BAND STRUCTURE.- PSEUDOPOTENTIALS IN 1d AND 2d MODELS.- PART FOUR: MATERIALS.- CLOSED ¿ SHELL SOLIDS.- SEMICONDUCTORS REVISITED.- SIMPLE METALS REVISITED.- TRANSITION METALS AND COMPOUNDS.- ARTIFICIAL PERIODIC STRUCTURES.- PART FIVE: DEVIATIONS FROM PERIODICITY.- POINT DEFECTS REVISITED.- SURFACES & INTERFACES.- FINITE SYSTEMS.- NON ¿ PERIODIC MATERIALS.- DISORDER & ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES.- PART SIX: CORRELATED SYSTEMS.- MAGNETIC MATERIAL.- SUPERCONDUCTIVITY