"The study of energy landscapes holds the key to resolving some of the most important contemporary problems in chemical physics. Many groups are now attempting to understand the properties of clusters, glasses and proteins in terms of the underlying potential energy surface, or free energy surfaces derived from it. The aim of this book is to define and unify the field of energy landscapes in a reasonably self-contained exposition. This is the first book to cover this active field.".

"The book begins with an overview of each area in an attempt to make the subject matter accessible to workers in different disciplines. The basic theoretical ground-work for describing and exploring energy landscapes is then introduced, including the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, symmetry considerations and features of the potential energy surface.

The emergence of structure, dynamics and thermodynamics and their relation to the landscape is then described, followed by applications to clusters, biomolecules and glasses in the final three chapters." "Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, this book is aimed at graduate students and workers in the field."--BOOK JACKET.