• Part I. General Background: 1. Stress and strain; 2. Thermodynamics; 3. Phenomenological theory of deformation; Part II. Materials Science of Deformation: 4. Elasticity; 5. Crystalline defects; 6. Experimental techniques in the study of plastic deformation; 7. Brittle fracture, brittle-plastic transition; 8. Diffusional creep; 9. Dislocation creep; 10. Effects of pressure and water; 11. Physical mechanisms of seismic wave attenuation; 12. Deformation of multi-phase materials; 13. Grain size; 14. Lattice preferred orientation; 15. Effects of phase transformations; 16. Stability and localization of deformation; Part III. Geological and Geophysical Applications: 17. Composition and structure of Earth's interior; 18. Time-dependent deformation of Earth and rheological structures; 19. Inference of rheological structure of Earth from mineral physics; 20. Heterogeneity of seismic wave velocities and its geodynamic significance; 21. Seismic anisotropy and its geodynamic significance; References; Index.

'… a welcome addition to textbooks dealing with experimental rock mechanics and its application to natural rock deformation. … provides by far the most comprehensive and authoritative treatment of this field in recent years. … its greatest value lies in the drawing together of traditional topics together with more recent developments such as the thermodynamic aspects of rock deformation and links with whole-Earth geodynamics. This is combined with a clear writing style and excellent illustrations to make this an essential addition to a researcher's bookshelf.' Geological Magazine