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The general purpose of Volume B of the International Tables for Crystallography is to present the user/reader with competent and useful accounts of the numerous aspects of reciprocal space in crystallographic research. After an introductory chapter, Part 1 presents the reader with an account of structure factor formalisms, an extensive treatment of the theory, algorithms and crystallographic applications of Fourier methods and a treatment of symmetry in reciprocal space. In Part 2 of the volume these general accounts are followed by detailed expositions of crystallographic statistics, direct methods, Patterson techniques, isomorphous replacement and anomalous scattering, and treatments of the role of electron microscopy and diffraction in crystal structure determination. Part 3 deals with applications of reciprocal space to molecular geometry and `best' plane calculations; it contains a treatment of the principles of molecular graphics and modelling and their applications, and concludes with the presentation of a convergence-acceleration method, of importance in the computation of approximate crystal potentials. The fourth Part contains treatments of various diffuse scattering phenomena arising from crystal dynamics, disorder and low dimensionality (liquid crystals), and an exposition of the underlying theories and/or experimental evidence. The volume concludes with an introductory treatment of the theory of interaction of radiation with matter, the so-called dynamical theory. Insofar as it was possible, effects due to all three major diffraction techniques (X-rays, neutrons and electrons) are considered.
The volume is a vital addition to the library of scientists engaged in crystal structure determination, crystallographic computing, crystal physics and other fields of crystallogaphic research. Graduate students specializing in crystallography will find much material suitable for self study and a rich source of references to the relevant literature.