Includes bibliographical references and index.

Concept of a solid: qualitative introduction and overview -- Electrons in crystals -- Electronic energy bands -- Lattice vibrations and phonons -- Electron dynamics in crystals -- Many-electron interactions: the interacting electron gas and beyond -- Density functional theory -- The dielectric function for solids -- Electronic transitions and optical properties of solids -- Electron- phonon interactions -- Dynamics of crystal electrons in a magnetic field -- Fundamentals of transport phenomena in solids -- Using many-body techniques -- Superconductivity -- Magnetism -- Reduced dimensional systems and nanostructures.