well as to processes for production, refining, shaping, surface treatment, and appli­ cation. Thus, the new series, "Materials Research and Engineering", will present up-to-date information on scientific and technological progress, as well as on issues of general relevance within the engineering field and industrial society. Premiering the new series, the present book by Dieter Altenpohl gives the reader a very general outlook, in fact, a position analysis of materials and the materials industry within the framework of our contemporary technological environment. It ventures, moreover, to forecast the changes affecting this pattern in a dynamic, interdependent world. This may be an unusual way to start a scientific series - it is believed, nevertheless, to be an appropriate one.