Marc André Meyers, Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego, is the author or co-author of three other books and approximately 400 papers. The recipient of important awards from Europe (Humboldt Senior Scientist Award and J. S. Rinehart Award), China (Lee Hsun Lecture Award; Visiting Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and the US (Acta Materialia Materials and Society Award, TMS Educator Award, SMD/TMS Distinguished Scientist and Distinguished Service Awards, ASM Albert Sauveur Award, ASM Albert Easton White Award), he is a fellow of TMS, APS and ASM, and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He is also the author of three fiction novels. Po-Yu Chen, Assistant Professor of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. His current research is in the fields of biological (natural) materials, bio-inspired/biomimetic materials, biomedical materials, and green and energy-related materials. He is the author and co-author of several highly-cited review articles in biological and bio-inspired materials. A member of the TMS Biomaterials Committee, he organized several bio-related symposiums and workshops in international conferences. He is the recipient of Materials Science and Engineering C Young Researcher Award and ASME Emerging Researchers in Biomedical Engineering in 2011 and received the Distinguished Young Researcher Career Award from Taiwan National Science Council.

• 1. Evolution of materials science and engineering: from natural to bioinspired materials; Part I. Basic Biology Principles: 2. Self assembly, hierarchy, and evolution; 3. Basic building blocks; 4. Cells; 5. Biomineralization; Part II. Biological Materials: 6. Silicate and calcium carbonate-based composites; 7. Calcium phosphate-based composites; 8. Biological polymers and polymer composites; 9. Biological elastomers; 10. Biological foams (porous solids); 11. Functional biological materials; Part III. Bioinspired Materials and Biomimetics: 12. Bioinspired materials; 13. Molecular-based biomimetics.

'The union of the physical and biological sciences is in many respects one of the most exciting yet challenging aspects of scientific endeavor today. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in the area of biological materials science and engineering where many materials scientists struggle with the complex puzzle of biological form and function while biologists in turn have to deal with the invariably highly quantitative nature of the physical sciences and engineering. With this book, Meyers and Chen have delivered a true tour de force which takes the reader in clear and precise text from cells to virus-produced Li-ion batteries. This book is a must read for undergraduates, graduates and researchers alike in the rapidly expanding fields of biological, bioinspired and biomaterials science.' Robert Ritchie, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory