The book incorporates a historical account of critical developments and the evolution of materials fundamentals, providing an important perspective for materials innovations, including advances in processing, selection, characterization, and service life prediction. It includes the perspectives of materials chemistry, materials physics, engineering design, and biological materials as these relate to crystals, crystal defects, and natural and biological materials hierarchies, from the atomic and molecular to the macroscopic, and emphasizing natural and man-made composites. Dr. Murr's expansive presentation of topics in Materials Properties and Performance: A Handbook for Engineers & Scientists explores inter-relationships among materials properties, processing, and synthesis (both historic and contemporary) while maintaining a highly readable "narrative" style and an encyclopedic breadth of coverage. The book serves as both an authoritative reference and roadmap of advanced materials concepts for practitioners, graduate-level students, and faculty coming from a range of disciplines.