This book takes the reader for a short journey over the structures of matter showing that their main properties can be obtained even at a quantitative level with a minimum background knowledge including, besides first year calculus and physics, the extensive use of dimensional analysis and the three cornerstones of science, namely the atomic idea, the wave-particle duality and the minimization of energy as the condition for equilibrium. Dimensional analysis employing the universal physical constants and combined with "a little imagination and thinking", to quote Feynman, allow an amazing short-cut derivation of several quantitative results concerning the structures of matter. In the current 2nd edition, new material and more explanations with more detailed derivations were added to make the book more student-friendly. Many multiple-choice questions with the correct answers at the end of the book, solved and unsolved problems make the book also suitable as a textbook. This book is of interest to students of physics, engineering and other science and to researchers in physics, material science, chemistry and engineering who may find stimulating the alternative derivation of several real world results which sometimes seem to pop out the magician's hat.

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. The remainder, constituting enrichment and elective material, re-examines the model under more realistic assumptions a well as new, more advanced subjects, some normally treated on the graduate level. While prerequisites include quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, and possibly statistical physics, appendices summarizing these subjects to make are included to make the book more self-contained. The basic text is enhanced with worked problems, copious illustrations, chapter-end exercises and summaries. The approach, which emphasizes the underlying physical concepts, unifies to some extent a subject that can seem too diverse and consisting of too many disjoint pieces, requires from students less memorizing of facts and formalisms but more thinking.

In this third edition the book has been expanded in three directions: 1. Problems have been added at the end of each chapter (40% of which are solved in the last section of the book) together with suggestions for further reading. Furthermore, the number of appendices (marked with a grey stripe) has been substantially enlarged in order to make the book more self-su?cient. These additions, together with many clari?cations in the text, render the book more suitable as a companion in a course on Green's functions and their applications. 2. Theimpressivedevelopmentsofthe1980sand1990sinmesoscopicphysics, and in particular in transport properties, found their way - to a c- tain extent - in the new Chaps.8 and 9 (which also contain some of the material of the old Chap.7). This is a natural expansion, since Green's functions have played an important role as a theoretical tool in this new ?eld of physics, a role that continues in nanoregime research (see, e.g., recent publications dealing with carbon nanotubes). Thus, the powerful and unifying formalism of Green's functions ?nds applications not only in standard physics subjects such as perturbation and scattering theory, bound-state formation, etc. , but also at the forefrontof current and, most likely, future developments. 3. Over the last 15 yearsor so Green's functions havefound applications not only in condensed matter electronicmotion but in classicalwavepropa- tion in both periodic and random media; photonic and phononic crystals aretheoutcomesofthislineofresearchwhoseunderlyingbasictheoretical principles are summarized in Sect.7.2.4.

This book takes the reader for a short journey over the structures of matter showing that their main properties can be obtained even at a quantitative level with a minimum background knowledge including, besides first year calculus and physics, the extensive use of dimensional analysis and the three cornerstones of science, namely the atomic idea, the wave-particle duality and the minimization of energy as the condition for equilibrium. Dimensional analysis employing the universal physical constants and combined with "a little imagination and thinking", to quote Feynman, allow an amazing short-cut derivation of several quantitative results concerning the structures of matter. In the current 2nd edition, new material and more explanations with more detailed derivations were added to make the book more student-friendly. Many multiple-choice questions with the correct answers at the end of the book, solved and unsolved problems make the book also suitable as a textbook. This book is of interest to students of physics, engineering and other science and to researchers in physics, material science, chemistry and engineering who may find stimulating the alternative derivation of several real world results which sometimes seem to pop out the magician's hat.

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.

In this third edition the book has been expanded in three directions: 1. Problems have been added at the end of each chapter (40% of which are solved in the last section of the book) together with suggestions for further reading. Furthermore, the number of appendices (marked with a grey stripe) has been substantially enlarged in order to make the book more self-su?cient. These additions, together with many clari?cations in the text, render the book more suitable as a companion in a course on Green's functions and their applications. 2. Theimpressivedevelopmentsofthe1980sand1990sinmesoscopicphysics, and in particular in transport properties, found their way - to a c- tain extent - in the new Chaps.8 and 9 (which also contain some of the material of the old Chap.7). This is a natural expansion, since Green's functions have played an important role as a theoretical tool in this new ?eld of physics, a role that continues in nanoregime research (see, e.g., recent publications dealing with carbon nanotubes). Thus, the powerful and unifying formalism of Green's functions ?nds applications not only in standard physics subjects such as perturbation and scattering theory, bound-state formation, etc. , but also at the forefrontof current and, most likely, future developments. 3. Over the last 15 yearsor so Green's functions havefound applications not only in condensed matter electronicmotion but in classicalwavepropa- tion in both periodic and random media; photonic and phononic crystals aretheoutcomesofthislineofresearchwhoseunderlyingbasictheoretical principles are summarized in Sect.7.2.4.

This text presents a detailed history of democracy, while also considering the modern methodological tools of economic history, institutional economics, and political, social and behavioural sciences, to explain why and how democracy was created, how it evolved and how it progresses. The book provides answers to a number of questions, such as what form of government democracy is, why it was first developed in ancient Greece, why it is that democracy-in order to flourish-requires strong and stable economic structures, and what role political and military organizations play in the shape of these elements. The volume analyses various cases studies drawn from Ancient Greece, Switzerland, England, the United Provinces, France, the USA, Germany and the EU.