The book is written for crystallographers, mathematicians and physicists who are interested in the application of color symmetry to crystal structure analysis and physics experiments involving magnetic or ferroelectric materials.

Marc H. Bornstein in a review for Leonardo praised the book: "Shubnikov and Koptsik, I find, should stand beside Weyl's classic treatise, Symmetry".

[3] Werner Nowacki wrote a positive review: "This clearly written, beautifully illustrated book will become a standard work for all who are interested in unifying branches of natural sciences and of art, and we must be grateful to the translator, the editor, and the publisher for having produced such a precious publication.

The larger philosophical and aesthetic extensions, however, do not meet Western standards of critical accuracy, rigour, or precision of statement; they are not pursued in any depth, and they draw on no currents of thought outside the Soviet Union.

Schwarzenberger, and Grünbaum and Shephard, give credit to Shubnikov and Belov for relaunching the field of color symmetry after the work of Heinrich Heesch and H.J.