Book excerpt: A presentation and discussion of the most recent advances in the field by the world's leading experts. Topics dealt with include new organic metals with quasi-two-dimensional structure, new organic superconductors, conducting and magnetic hybrid organic-inorganic materials, and highly conducting organic composites. Also reported are very interesting, significant results on optically controllable gratings in liquid crystals and polymers, organic electroluminescent materials, functionalised polymers and photonics, and nonlinear optics. Some new, fascinating fullerene derivatives and organic and metallic clusters are also presented. The chemical design of logic gates and molecular logic machines and the analysis of the roles of defects in clusters are attracting great interest. The properties of semiconducting quantum wires, electronic transport through magnetic molecular nanostructure and electronic transport properties of nanostructures containing both ferromagnetic and superconductors are also presented and discussed.