Book excerpt: The development of the laser and the subsequent expansion of research in the field of molecular scattering of light tend to ob scure the vast literature that accumulated on this subject during th'e last fifty years. The appearance of the Russian edition of Dr. Fabelinskii's book, just as this laser-induced explosion in light-scattering research took place, served to put the earlier work in its proper perspective. However, the book lacked any appreci able coverage of the laser work. Fortunately, Dr. Fabelinskii has taken advantage of the time between the appearance of the Russian text and its translation into English to expand greatly the sections devoted to areas in which laser research has made such interesting and vital additions, At the same time, revisions and insertions have been made throughout the text, so that the English translation is virtually a second edition of this useful work. The translator wishes to express his thanks here to Dr. Fa belinskii for making the revisions, corrections, and additions availahle for the English language work. He is also grateful to his graduate student, Mark B. Moffett, who prepared the index and who, during the course of its preparation, made a large number of crit ical comments and corrections that have enhanced the quality of the final product.