For the benefit of advanced students and young researchers who must choose or design materials for components and structures operating at temperatures from about 600 to about 1000 degrees Celsius, Zhang (materials science and engineering, Dalian U. of Technology, China) describes the general macroscopic behaviors of high temperature deformation and fracture shown by various materials, and introduces the mechanisms proposed at two microscopic scales: the atomic and the dislocation levels. Taking deformation and fracture in turn, he discusses such topics as creep behavior of materials, dislocation motion at elevated temperatures, creep of solid solution alloys, mechanisms of grain boundary sliding, the diffusional growth of creep cavities, nucleation and the growth of wedge-type microcracks, predicting creep rupture life, and environmental damage at high temperature. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)