This book contains 11 chapters, four of which are written or co-written by Shmuel Yariv. Despite the number of pages, it does not offer a comprehensive review and the editors acknowledge this in the preface before expressing the intention to remedy this in a second volume. From my own perspective the major omissions are in the areas of kaolin-organic interactions and the use of organoclays as adsorbents and barrier materials. However, given the enormous number of publications that have emerged in recent years in both these areas, it is perhaps understandable. Moreover, given the amount of (sometimes repetitious) attention to alkylammonium-exchanged clays in this volume it is surprising that little mention is made of their importance in clay-based nanocomposites. The book opens with a chapter devoted to the ‘Structure and Surface Acidity of Clay Minerals’ by S. Yariv and K.H. Michaelian (35 pages, 44 references). Twenty pages are devoted to the structure of 1:1 and 2:1 layer silicates and are used as a prelude to a well-structured discussion of the water present in the gallery and how it is influenced by the type of exchangeable cation and the locus of isomorphous substitution. There is also a discussion of the surface acidity/basicity of clays and how it is affected by the occupancy of the octahedral sheet. The second chapter ‘Introduction to Organo-Clay Complexes and Interactions’ by S. Yariv (72 pages, 188 references) positions clay-organic interactions with respect to their role in fixation and/or transport of organic matter in the environment, industry and …