in their roles of proof-reading, grading, and writing answer keys, were powerful filters for weeding out infelicities. I would like to thank Bray for reading portions of the text, providing invaluable insights, and tightening the presentation. I would like to thank Julie Harris at Oxford University Press for her close scrutiny and technical assistance in the final preparation stages of this book. Finally, Chris Myers and I spent hundreds of hours together developing the many computer exercises

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... istributed through this text; his broad knowledge of science and computation, his profound taste in computational tools and methods, and his good humor made this a productive and exciting collaboration. The errors and awkwardness that persist, and the exciting topics I have missed, are in spite of the wonderful input from these friends and colleagues. I would especially like to thank Carol Devine, for consultation, insightful comments and questions, and for tolerating the back of her spouse's head for perhaps a thousand hours over the past two years.