Abstract

<h2>Acta Crystallographica Section A</h2><h3>Crystal Physics, Diffraction, Theoretical and General Crystallography</h3><h3>0567-7394</h3> <h2>book reviews</h2> Volume 27 Part 2 Pages 190-191 March 1971 <h2> Elements of X-ray crystallography by A. J. C. Wilson</h2> C. H. MacGillavry Elements of X-ray crystallography. By A. J. C. WILSON. Pp.ix+256. London: Addison-Wesley, 1970. Price £ 6"90. This book fills a definite gap between several existing rather simple books on X-ray diffraction, in which its various applications are at best treated qualitatively correctly, and the more exhaustive and rigorous treatment of various text- books on powder diffractometry on one hand, and structure determination on the other. To find a book of just over 200 pages adequately covering such different fields as systematic errors in powder diffrac- tometry, intensity of X-ray diffraction, and diffraction by imperfect crystals, is quite a revelation to the university teacher who has in vain wrestled with the problem of how to cram all this into an introductory course. The reviewer notes with delight some clever didactic tricks, such as the derivation of the Patterson function. On the other hand, an introduction of vector notation right from the beginning of Chapter 8, instead of halfway through, would have had the advantage of avoiding