We are delighted by the publication of this second edition by Springer-Verlag, now in its second printing. The first edition took over twelve years to com plete, but its favorable acceptance and quick sales prompted us to prepare the second edition in about two years. The new edition features many re-writings of explanations to improve clarity, ranging from substantial re-structuring to subtle re-wording. Explanations of modern techniques such as Z-contrast imaging have been updated, and errors in text and figures have been cor rected over the course of several critical re-readings. The on-line solutions manual has been updated too. The first edition arrived at a time of great international excitement in nanostructured materials and devices, and this excitement continues to grow. The second edition, with new examples and re-writing, shows better how nanostructures offer new opportunities for transmission electron microscopy and diffractometry of materials. Nevertheless, the topics and structure of the first edition remain intact. The aims and scope of the book remain the same, as do our teaching suggestions. We thank our physics editors Drs. Claus Ascheron and Angela Lahee, and our production editor Petra Treiber of Springer-Verlag for their help with both editions. Finally, we thank the National Science Foundation for support of our research efforts in microscopy and diffraction.weiterlesen