The book starts from the one-electron theory of solid state physics, moving through electron-electron interaction and many-body approximation schemes, to lattice oscillations and their interactions with electrons. Subsequent chapters discuss transport theory and optical properties, phase transitions and some properties of low-dimensional semiconductors. This extensively expanded second edition includes new material on adiabatic perturbation theory, kinetic coefficients, the Nyquist theorem, Bose condensation, and the field-theoretical approach to non-relativistic quantum electrodynamics.

Throughout the text, mathematical proofs are often only sketched, and the final chapter of the book reviews some of the key concepts and formulae used in theoretical physics.