It is just over 80 years ago that a striking oscillatory field dependence was discovered in the magnetic behaviour of bismuth at low temperatures. This book was first published in 1984 and gives a systematic account of the nature of the oscillations, of the experimental techniques for their study and of their connection with the electronic structure of the metal concerned. Although the main emphasis is on the oscillations themselves and their many peculiarities, rather than on the theory of the electronic structure they reveal, sufficient examples are given in detail to illustrate the kind of information that has been obtained and how this information agrees with theoretical prediction.

The phenomenon of superconductivity, fist discovered by Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911, offers considerable fundamental interest as an unusual example of quantum effects on a macroscopic scale and of interest also in respect of its possible technological applications. Although Dr Shoenberg's classic monograph was written in 1938, before the great burst of activity which followed the development of a fundamental theory of superconductivity, its phenomenological description of the magnetic and thermodynamic properties and of size effects in superconductors, which are taken for granted in most accounts, are essential parts of the subject which must be properly understood before the newer ideas can really be appreciated. Reissued in 1952 and again in 2010, the book will continue to serve therefore as an intriguing study in this field and for those interested in superconductivity.