When I undertook the production of the First Edition of this book it was
my first foray into the world of book editing, and I had no idea of what
I was undertaking! I was not entirely alone in this, as in asking me to
produce such a book the commissioning Editor, Mr George Olley of
Elsevier Ap- plied Science Publishers, had pictured a text of perhaps
300 pages, but on seeing my list of chapter titles realized that we were
talking about a - chapter, two-volume work. We eventually decided to go
ahead with it, and the result was more successful than either of us had
dared to hope could be It was therefore with rather mixed emotions that
I contemplated the case. a second edition at the suggestion of Blackie
Press, who had taken over the title from Elsevier. On the one hand, I
was naturally flattered that the book was considered important enough to
justify a second edition. On the other hand, I was very well aware that
the task would be even greater this time.
