In 1980, materials scientists Porter, Kenneth E. Easterling, and Mohamed Y. Sherif compiled a textbook for an undergraduate course for final-year undergraduate students of metallurgy, materials science, or engineering materials, drawing on lectures they originally delivered at Lulea University, Sweden. They begin by setting out the background necessary to understand phase transformations in metals: thermodynamics, kinetics, diffusion theory, and the structure and properties of interfaces. Then they focus on specific kinds of transformations: solidification, diffusional transformations in solids, and diffusionless transformations. For the second edition in 1991, and now this third, they update methods and applications, noting that the basic theory has not changed. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)