This, the first of two volumes devoted to probability theory in physics, physical chemistry, and engineering, provides an introduction to the problem of the random walk and its applications. In its simplest form, the random walk describes the motion of an idealized drunkard and is a discrete analogue of the diffusion process.

A thorough account is given of the theory of random walks on discrete spaces (lattices or networks) and in continuous spaces, including processed with random waiting times between steps. Applications discussed include dielectric relaxation, charge transport in the xerographic process, turbulent dispersion, diffusion through a medium with traps, laser speckle and the conformations of polymers in dilute solution. Prior knowledge of probability theory would be helpful, but not assumed. An extensive bibilography concludes the book.

This is the second volume of a two-volume work devoted to probability theory in physical chemistry, and engineering. Rather than dealing explicitly with the idea of an ongoing random walk, with each chaotic step taking place at fixed time intervals, this volume addresses random environments-- models in which the disorder is frozen in space. It begins with an introduction to the geometry of random environments, emphasizing Bernoulli percolation models. The scope of the investigation then widens as we ask how structural disorder affects the transport process. The final chapters confront the interplay of two different forms of randomness; spatial randomness frozen into the environment and temporal randomness associated with the choices for next steps made by a random walker. The book ends with a discussion of "the ant in the labyrinth" problems and an extensive bibliography that, along with the rest of the material, will be of value to researchers in physics, mathematics, and chemical engineering.