This edition has been expanded and updated to include the new developments in the field since the publication of the first edition. It contains five completely new chapters, covering topics such as generation methods and their application, colliding waves, classification of metrics by invariants and inhomogeneous cosmologies. It is an important source and guide for graduates and researchers in relativity, theoretical physics, astrophysics and mathematics. Parts of the book can also be used for preparing lectures and as an introductory text on some mathematical aspects of general relativity."--BOOK JACKET.