Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices

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Review: The book by Nye is considered by many people in the relevant scientific societies as the "bible" of crystal physics. In scientific terms, it is a rigorously written book on tensor algedra which which is the mathematical formalism essential to describe the physical properties of crystals. The mathematical complexity of the book is rather elementary and hence could be used for a senior level advanced undergraduate course as well (typically it is used as a first your graduate course text). The first half of the book discusses equilibrium properties of crystals (permittivity, piezoelectricity, elasticity etc.), therefore a rather modest background in physics is needed. The second half of the book that is devoted to transport properties may require some "general" background on the basic principles of transport phenomena and irreversible thermodynamics. This book, in my opinion, is a very well written book that places the physical properties of crystals in an "easy to comprehend" mathematical framework eloquently. It is an excellent text book. I highly recommend it.