Casting and solidification are most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods, and remain among the most important commercial processes for many materials.

The modern science of solidification started in the 1940s, when engineers and scientists began to use analytical mathematical models to describe solidification phenomena. The development of the criterion for constitutional supercooling by Chalmers and co-workers was a major step forward in our understanding of the instability of the solid-liquid interface and the evolution of as-cast microstructures. Based on the results of Chalmers early research, the first comprehensive textbook/monograph with the original title of Principles of Solidification was published in 1964. Research on heat and solute transport during solidification continued over the following years, providing solidification science with a firm base. This resulted in subsequent textbooks: Solidification Processing by Flemings in 1974, and 10 years later, Kurz & Fisher's book Fundamentals of Solidification, in which the equations of heat and solute transport including the inherent length scales were applied in a comprehensive way to describe microstructural developments during solidification.

In the 80s, the modeling of solidification and crystal growth processes really took off when powerful computers became available. Computational models on the (different) length scales of casting and solidification were successfully developed in parallel with the rapid improvement of algorithms for different numerical approaches, such as finite element, finite volume, and phase field methods.

Although there have been a few dedicated books and conference proceedings published since the appearance of Flemings' and Kurz & Fisher's books, it is only recently that two new textbooks with a comprehensive presentation of the fundamentals, models, and computational approaches based on the results of solidification research up to the present day have been published: Dantzig & Rappaz's Solidification (2009) and Glicksman's Fundamentals of Solidification (2011).

While the textbook by Dantzig & Rappaz more or less follows the approach by Kurz & Fisher, the book by Glickman, discussed here, follows the approach and logical structure of Chalmers original Principles of Solidification.

Glicksman's textbook is divided into five parts: Introductory Aspects, Macrosegregation, Solid-liquid interfaces, Microstructure Evolution, and Appendices.

In Part I, crystals and melts, thermodynamics, thermal concepts in solidification, and the solidification of pure metals are described. Part II, Macrosegregation, covers solute mass balances, plane-front solidification, and compositional control and Part III, Solid-Liquid Interfaces, follows with crystal-melt interfaces, constitutional supercooling, linear morphological stability, non-linear stability models, and nucleation analysis.

Part IV, Microstructural Evolution, covers dendritic growth, microsegregation, interface structure and growth kinetics, polyphase solidification, and rapid solidification processing and in Part V some selected topics are described in detail.

The topic of this book is timely and the author is an acknowledged expert in the field who has made major research contributions.

Students and researchers in materials, metallurgy, chemistry, and mechanical engineering will find this to be a useful source on the subjects of solidification and crystal growth. Extensive figures, tables, and references enable readers to easily understand the content with minimal difficulty. Unfortunately the book has no worked examples and problems to help students to practice what they have learned.

In summary, this book comprehensively covers the liquid-solid transformation in casting, welding, and crystal growth processes and will give students and scientists a firmer grasp of the field of solidification science. This book will no doubt prove to be useful as a reference book for graduate level materials, metallurgical, chemical, and mechanical engineering researchers.