Book excerpt: This important book collects together stateOCoofOCotheOCoart reviews of diverse topics covering almost all the major areas of modern quantum chemistry. The current focus in the discipline of chemistry OCo synthesis, structure, reactivity and dynamics OCo is mainly on control . A variety of essential computational tools at the disposal of chemists have emerged from recent studies in quantum chemistry. The acceptance and application of these tools in the interfacial disciplines of the life and physical sciences continue to grow. The new era of modern quantum chemistry throws up promising potentialities for further research. Reviews of Modern Quantum Chemistry is a joint endeavor, in which renowned scientists from leading universities and research laboratories spanning 22 countries present 59 inOCodepth reviews. Along with a personal introduction written by Professor Walter Kohn, Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 1998), the articles celebrate the scientific contributions of Professor Robert G Parr on the occasion of his 80th birthday. List of Contributors: W Kohn, M Levy, R Pariser, B R Judd, E Lo, B N Plakhutin, A Savin, P Politzer, P Lane, J S Murray, A J Thakkar, S R Gadre, R F Nalewajski, K Jug, M Randic, G Del Re, U Kaldor, E Eliav, A Landau, M Ehara, M Ishida, K Toyota, H Nakatsuji, G Maroulis, A M Mebel, S Mahapatra, R CarbOCoDorca, u Nagy, I A Howard, N H March, SOCoB Liu, R G Pearson, N Watanabe, S TenOCono, S Iwata, Y Udagawa, E Valderrama, X Fradera, I Silanes, J M Ugalde, R J Boyd, E V Ludea, V V Karasiev, L Massa, T Tsuneda, K Hirao, J-M Tao, J P Perdew, O V Gritsenko, M Grning, E J Baerends, F Aparicio, J Garza, A Cedillo, M Galvin, R Vargas, E Engel, A HAck, R N Schmid, R M Dreizler, J Poater, M Sola, M Duran, J Robles, X Fradera, P K Chattaraj, A Poddar, B Maiti, A Cedillo, S Guti(r)rrezOCoOliva, P Jaque, A ToroOCoLabb(r), H Chermette, P Boulet, S Portmann, P Fuentealba, R Contreras, P Geerlings, F De Proft, R Balawender, D P Chong, A Vela, G Merino, F Kootstra, P L de Boeij, R van Leeuwen, J G Snijders, N T Maitra, K Burke, H Appel, E K U Gross, M K Harbola, H F Hameka, C A Daul, I Ciofini, A Bencini, S K Ghosh, A Tachibana, J M CabreraOCoTrujillo, F Tenorio, O Mayorga, M Cases, V Kumar, Y Kawazoe, A M KAster, P Calaminici, Z Gmez, U Reveles, J A Alonso, L M Molina, M J Lpez, F Dugue, A Maanes, C A Fahlstrom, J A Nichols, D A Dixon, P A Derosa, A G Zacarias, J M Seminario, D G Kanhere, A Vichare, S A Blundell, ZOCoY Lu, HOCoY Liu, M Elstner, WOCoT Yang, J Muoz, X Fradera, M Orozco, F J Luque, P Tarakeshwar, H M Lee, K S Kim, M Valiev, E J Bylaska, A Gramada, J H Weare, J Brickmann, M Keil, T E Exner, M Hoffmann & J Rychlewski. Contents: Volume I: Applications of the Automorphisms of SO(8) to the Atomic f Shell (B R Judd & E Lo); Probability Distributions and Valence Shells in Atoms (A Savin); Information Theoretical Approaches to Quantum Chemistry (S R Gadre); Quantum Chemical Justification for Clar''s Valence Structures (M Randic); Functional Expansion Approach in Density Functional Theory (S-B Liu); Normconserving Pseudopotentials for the Exact Exchange Functional (E Engel et al.); Volume II: Chemical Reactivity and Dynamics within a Density-based Quantum Mechanical Framework (P K Chattaraj et al.); Fukui Functions and Local Softness (H Chermette et al.); The Nuclear Fukui Function (P Geerlings et al.); Causality in Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory (M K Harbola); Theoretical Studies of Molecular Magnetism (H F Hameka); Melting in Finite-Sized Systems (D G Kanhere et al.); Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Drug Design (M Hoffmann & J Rychlewski); and other papers. Readership: Researchers and academics in computational, physical, fullerene, industrial, polymer, solid state and theoretical/quantum chemistry; nanoscience, superconductivity & magnetic materials, surface science; atomic, computational and condensed matter physics; and thermodynamics."