This self-contained text introduces the physics of structurally disordered condensed systems at the level of advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Among the topics, the geometry and symmetries of highly regular structures, the various kinds of disorder, the phenomenology and the main theories of the glass transition, the experimental investigation on the structure and microscopic dynamics of amorphous systems and the pertinent modelling, the structure and stability of noble gas, metal and carbon clusters, and their evolution with cluster size, nanostructured solids, the structure of quasicrystals and their relation to nanocrystalline and amorphous solids.
From the reviews of the first edition: "The text is clearly presented, amply illustrated and has approximately 45 references with an equivalent amount of further reading […] it provides a fresh viewpoint which makes it well worth careful reading... [and] provides a stimulating and novel coverage of a difficult subject area." Glass Technology