Book excerpt: The goal of the series Physics and Chemistry of Materials with Layered Structures is to give a critical survey of our present knowledge on a large family of materials which can be described as solids containing molecules which in two dimensions extend to infinity and which are loosely stacked on top of each other to form three dimensional crystals. Of course, the physics and chemistry of these crystals are specific chapters in ordinary solid state science, and many a scientist hunting for new phenomena has in the past been disappointed to find that materials with layered structures are not entirely exotic. Their electron and phonon states are not two dimensional, and the high hopes held by some for spectacular dimensionality effects in superconductivity were shattered. Nevertheless, the structural features and their physical and chemical consequences singularize layered structures sufficiently to make them a fascinating subject of research. This is all the more true since they are met in insulators and semiconductors as well as in normal and superconducting metals. Although for the time being the series is intentionally limited to cover inorganic materials only, the many known organic layered structures may well be the subject of future volumes. Among the noteworthy peculiarities of layered structures, we mention specific growth mechanisms and crystal habits. Polytypism is very common and it is fasci nating indeed to find up to 240 different polytypes in the same chemical substance.