Book excerpt: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy II, like its predecessor, presents detailed and comprehensive accounts of the basic principles and the broad range of applications of STM and related scanning probe techniques. The applications discussed in this volume come predominantly from the fields of electrochemistry and biology. In contrast to those in STM I, these studies may be performed in air and in liquids. The extensions of the basic technique to map other interactions are described in chapters on scanning force microscopy, magnetic force microscopy, and scanning near-field optical microscopy, together with a survey of other related techniques. Also discussed here is the use of a scanning proximal probe for surface modification. Together, the two volumes give a comprehensive account of experimental aspects of STM and provide essential reading and reference material. In this second edition the text has been updated and new methods are discussed.