This book is about passion. A passion for chemistry. A passion for John D. Corbett, Distinguished Professor of Science and Humanities at Iowa State University of Science and Technology and Senior Chemist at the Ames Laboratory. A passion and admiration for John’s way of conducting research in solid state chemistry and for the way he passes on his vast amount of accumulated knowledge to his students, postdoctoral associates and the community as a whole. John Corbett is a truly outstanding solid state inorganic chemist, an individual of immense and different talents, who has influenced not only his discipline but, in many ways, has led the renaissance in solid state chemistry over the past several decades.