Recent Advances in Spectroscopy: Theoretical, Astrophysical and Experimental Perspectives, edited by R.K. Chaudhuri, M.V. Mekkaden, A.V. Raveendran, A. Satya Narayanan

the nanometre with the human hair thickness: the latter is considered humongous with respect to a single nanometre, since it ranges from 40,000 to 200,000 mm. In our everyday life, we are recently bombarded with new terms, which include the prefix ‘nano’ to describe equipment such as ‘nano-technology’, ‘nano-fibres’, ‘nano-cameras’, etc. The vast applications of nanomaterials stretch across science, engineering, and medicine. The study of matter, where one of its dimensions is limited to about 100 mm, is called Nanoscience. At this scale, quantum mechanics and thermodynamics dominate over ‘classical’ physics. Thus, nanostructures possess different or totally new properties over their macroscopic equivalent. For example, bulk platinum is not magnetic; however, platinum nanoclusters were found to exhibit weak magnetic properties (i.e. paramagnetism). Although there are experiential techniques probing the properties of nanomaterials, these often need to be complemented by theoretical simulations, in order to elucidate and understand the physics phenomena, which occur at this scale. This is where Computational Nanoscience shines: computer simulations are used to accurately model nanoscale phenomena. Moreover, these simulations are essential for analysis of co-current effects, which cannot be factor decomposed by experimental means alone. Computational Nanoscience is much more than merely an overview of existing computational codes and the description of the algorithms used for the modelling of nanostructures. Varga and Driscoll provide an excellent resource for students and researchers to learn novel methods in nanostructure simulation, and ultimately to develop their own codes in this area. The authors have taken their task very seriously; the book is well-written and fairly easy to follow. It consists of 18 chapters and is divided into two parts. The first part concentrates on one-dimensional problems and is mostly suitable for advanced undergraduates in physics, material science, and engineering. The second part contains twoand three-dimensional problems suitable for graduate students and researchers. Sophisticated, widely known modelling methods, such as classical molecular dynamics, cluster and periodic density functional theory appear in the second part of the book. Various versions of these algorithms have been already incorporated in numerous freeware and commercial modelling software. The number of publications and citations emerging from the use of these algorithms is astonishing: This number is rapidly increasing every year. An extensive bibliography list is included, thus providing the opportunity for further reading and code exploration. A complimentary web site is also available with computer codes and examples. The site is constantly renewed with upgraded codes, new examples, and algorithms. Such marvellous and dedicated work by Varga and Driscoll deserves the strongest recommendation. Their work may inspire researchers to improve existing codes and algorithms in nanostructure modelling, thus improving computational time without sacrificing accuracy. In the future, I hope to see another book by these authors, either as a continuation of this book or in similar subject. Personally, I am not only looking forward to it, but also to further developments in this fascinating area of science as well.