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Photoelectron spectroscopy is concerned with the ejection of electrons from atomic systems according to the Einstein photoelectric equation. E is the initial binding energy (ionization energy) of the electron and ½mv2 the kinetic energy it acquires when ejected by a photon of frequency v.

By R. V. Sharman London: Bittterworth & Co. Ltd. 1963. Pp. x + 253. Price 45s. The common mathematical background of all physical phenomena involving wave motion makes it desirable that the subject of waves should be given a unified treatment. The study of 'particles' on the one hand and 'waves' on the other, would embrace almost the whole of physics but the advantage of teaching the subject under these two headings rather than the more conventional ones is a matter of opinion.

The centenaries of two eminent Victorian scientists, Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875) and Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875) were recently honoured at an exhibition held at King's College, London. The former established the main principles of geology and showed that the age of the earth was about four billion years.

Supplementary Volume 1 J. Thewlis (Editor-in-Chief) Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1966. Pp. x + 404. Price £7. This is the first supplementary volume of the now well established parent encyclopaedic dictionary of physics. Because of the continuous development of science, periodic supplements to the original work are obviously necessary.

Vol 1 Collisions of Electrons with Atoms H S W Massey and E H S Burhop London: Oxford University Press 1969 pp xxvi + 664 price £10 Vol 2 Electron Collisions with Molecules–Photoionization H S W Massey London: Oxford University Press 1969 pp xxiv+ 1294 price £10 The first edition of this book has become a standard text in a field which has seen enormous growth in the past two decades. At the time of its publication in 1952 it was possible to claim that the book contained a fairly comprehensive account of the experimental and theoretical knowledge then available on the rates of collision processes which occur between electrons, ions and neutral atoms and molecules.

I I Sobel'man Oxford: Pergamon 1972 pp xvi + 609 price £18 This book is probably the most significant treatise on the theory of atomic spectra that has appeared since Condon and Shortley published their standard work on this topic nearly 38 years ago. In fact one of its aims is to update that authoritative text by presenting a modern systematic account of the subject including in particular the work of Racah on the theory of complex spectra and the method of fractional parentage coefficients.

Supplementary Vol. 2 J. Thewlis (Editor-in-Chief), R. C. Glass, W. J. Stern and A. R. Meetham (Associate Editors) Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1967. Pp. xiii + 447. Price £7. An encyclopaedia is equivalent to a large library of books with the additional advantage that the information it contains is already referenced and easily accessible. If literature is to be properly understood it must be read with a dictionary at hand which can be consulted whenever the meaning of a word or phrase is not clear.