Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-255) and index.
Description of chemical structures -- Symmetry -- Polymorphism and phase transitions -- Chemical bonding and lattice energy -- The effective size of atoms -- Ionic compounds -- Molecular structures I: compounds of main group elements -- Molecular structures II: compounds of transition metals -- Molecular orbital theory and chemical bonding in solids -- The element structures of the nonmetals -- Diamond-like structures -- Polyanionic and polycationic compounds -- Zintl phases -- Packing of spheres -- Metal structures -- The sphere-packing principle for coumpounds -- Linked polyhedra -- Packing of spheres with occupied interstices -- Symmetry as the organizing principle for crystal structures -- Physical properties of solids -- Nanostructures -- Pitfalls and linguistics aberrations.