Book excerpt: This handbook provides a straightforward introduction to spectroscopy, showing what it can do and how it does it, together with a clear, integrated and objective account of the wealth of information that can be derived from spectra. The sequence of chapters covers a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the physical processes involved, from nuclear phenomena to molecular rotation processes. - A day-by-day laboratory guide: its design based on practical knowledge of spectroscopists at universities, industries and research institutes - A well-structured information source containing methods and applications sections framed by sections on general topics - Guides users to a decision about which spectroscopic method and which instrumentation will be the most appropriate to solve their own practical problem - Rapid access to essential information - Correct analysis of a huge number of measured spectra data and smart use of such information sources as databases and spectra libraries