Invited international contributions to this exciting new research field are included in this volume. It contains the specially selected papers from 45 key specialists given at the Symposium held under the auspices of the prestigious International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Turin in October 1994.

Preface, Scientific Committee, Official picture of the Symposium, PART ONE RENORMALIZATION AND SCALING LAWS, PART TWO FRACTALITY AND SELF-SIMILARITY, PART THREE DISORDER AND STATISTICS, PART FOUR CONTINUUM MODELS, PART FIVE DISCRETE MODELS, PART SIX QUASI-BRITTLE MATERIALS, PART SEVEN DUCTILE MATERIALS, PART EIGHT DYNAMIC FRACTURE AND IMPACT, Author index, Subject index, Let us cement our friendship (poem by Cirdec Renrut)