This book presents a set of basic understandings of the behavior and response of solids to propagating shock waves. The propagation of shock waves in a solid body is accompanied by large compressions, decompression, and shear. Thus, the shear strength of solids and any inelastic response due to shock­ wave propagation is of the utmost importance. Furthermore, shock compres­ sion of solids is always accompanied by heating, and the rise of local tempera­ ture which may be due to both compression and dissipation. For many solids, under a certain range of impact pressures, a two-wave structure arises such that the first wave, called the elastic prescursor,