This is the book of the ftrst ever International meeting dedicated entirely to Crystal th th Engineering, which occurred during 9 _20 September, 1996. It is thus entirely appropriate that it was a NATO Advanced Science Institute, and that the speakers represented the ofthe presentations, the good leading lights in the fteld from around the world. The quality humour of the speakers, the responsive, interactative audience, the wonderful setting, the outstanding food and the occasional hurricane all added up to two of the most enjoyable weeks of science that we have ever experienced (and for the organisers to actually enjoy a meeting must indeed be a rare event!). The artides in this book will give the reader a flavour of the science - a sense of the excitement of a group of people in at the foundation of a fledgling area - avision of the scientiftc breadth ofthe subject. What they fail to do, not surprisingly, is to capture the camaraderie, goodwill and intellectual flow of the meeting. This will be remembered by all who attended for a very long time, and marked this meeting, at least in our varied experiences, as unique. But its success lies not with organisers, but despite them.