This is a book for electrical and electronic engineers, not for materials scientists. Every explanation is rendered in its simplest and clearest form and as many relevant examples are included as possible. At every point, the author makes clear the direct relevance of every topic to the reader's main course of study: electrical and electronic engineering. The central theme is that the type of bonding in a solid not only controls its electrical properties but also, and just as directly, its mechanical properties and how things are made from it. Thus the reason why a copper wire can conduct electricity is exactly the same reason it can be drawn into a wire in the first place. The reason why a piece of porcelain does not conduct electricity is the same as why it cannot be rolled into its final shape as copper could and thus has to be made directly. This common origin of electrical and mechanical properties dictates the structure of the book.