This successful text comprises a course on nuclear physics that leads
the reader on an exploration of the field and its applications from
nuclei to astrophysical issues.As a primer this course will lay the
foundations for more specialized subjects. The physics is introduced
with arguments based on simple ideas such as the empirical structure of
nuclear forces and its interplay with the Pauli principle and Coulomb
repulsion. The book then develops elementary nuclear models and
illustrates nuclear systematics with experimental data. Reactions and
decays are discussed both phenomenologically and from the point of view
of fundamental electro-weak interaction theory while ther coverage of
fission and fusion emphasize nuclear energy production. This leads
directly into nuclear astrophysics and nucleosynthesis and cosmology.