Acknowledgements Many colleagues have been generous in discussion, criticism, and constructive suggestions I particularly wish to thank Professor Yves Brechet of the University of Grenoble; Professor Anthony Evans of the University of California at Santa Barbara; Professor John Hutchinson of Harvard University; Dr David Cebon; Professor Norman Fleck; Professor Ken Wallace; Dr. John Clarkson; Dr Hugh Shercliff of the Engineering Department, Cambridge University; Dr Amal Esawi of the American University in Cairo, Egypt; Dr Ulrike Wegst of the Max Planck Institute for Materials Research in Stuttgart, Germany; Dr Paul Weaver of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Bristol; Professor Michael Brown of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK, and the staff of Granta Design Ltd, Cambridge, UK.Acknowledgements Many colleagues have been generous in discussion, criticism, and constructive suggestions. I particularly wish to thank Professor Yves Bre´chet of the University of Grenoble; Professor Anthony Evans of the University of California at Santa Barbara; Professor John Hutchinson of Harvard University; Dr David Cebon; Professor Norman Fleck; Professor Ken Wallace; Dr. John Clarkson; Dr. Hugh Shercliff of the Engineering Department, Cambridge University; Dr Amal Esawi of the American University in Cairo, Egypt; Dr Ulrike Wegst of the Max Planck Institute for Materials Research in Stuttgart, Germany; Dr Paul Weaver of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Bristol; Professor Michael Brown of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, UK, and the staff of Granta Design Ltd, Cambridge, UK