"a gem of a textbook which manages to produce a genuinely fresh, concise yet comprehensive guide" -Mark Leake, University of York "destined to become a standard reference.... Not just a 'how to' handbook but also an accessible primer in the essentials of kinetic theory and practice." -Michael Geeves, University of Kent "covers the entire spectrum of approaches, from the traditional steady state methods to a thorough account of transient kinetics and rapid reaction techniques, and then on to the new single molecule techniques" -Stephen Halford, University of Bristol This illustrated treatment explains the methods used for measuring how much a reaction gets speeded up, as well as the framework for solving problems such as ligand binding and macromolecular folding, using the step-by-step approach of numerical integration. It is a thoroughly modern text, reflecting the recent ability to observe reactions at the single-molecule level, as well as advances in microfluidics which have given rise to femtoscale studies. Kinetics is more important now than ever, and this book is a vibrant and approachable entry for anyone who wants to understand mechanism using transient or single molecule kinetics without getting bogged down in advanced mathematics. Clive R. Bagshaw is Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester, U.K., and Research Associate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, U.S.A.

"a gem of a textbook which manages to produce a genuinely fresh, concise yet comprehensive guide" -Mark Leake, University of York "destined to become a standard reference.... Not just a 'how to' handbook but also an accessible primer in the essentials of kinetic theory and practice." -Michael Geeves, University of Kent "covers the entire spectrum of approaches, from the traditional steady state methods to a thorough account of transient kinetics and rapid reaction techniques, and then on to the new single molecule techniques" -Stephen Halford, University of Bristol This illustrated treatment explains the methods used for measuring how much a reaction gets speeded up, as well as the framework for solving problems such as ligand binding and macromolecular folding, using the step-by-step approach of numerical integration. It is a thoroughly modern text, reflecting the recent ability to observe reactions at the single-molecule level, as well as advances in microfluidics which have given rise to femtoscale studies. Kinetics is more important now than ever, and this book is a vibrant and approachable entry for anyone who wants to understand mechanism using transient or single molecule kinetics without getting bogged down in advanced mathematics. Clive R. Bagshaw is Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester, U.K., and Research Associate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, U.S.A.

L-------------------------------------------~ Kathy Ruppel, Ken Niebling and JeffFiner for their help and comments on the first draft. I am also grateful for discussions with and comments from Dr Neil Miliar, Professor Bob Simmons, Dr Roger Cooke, Dr Tosbio Yanagida, Dr John Kendrick-Jones, Dr Rob Cross, Dr Ian Trayer, Dr John Sparrow, Dr Michael Geeves, Dr Bernhard Brennerand Dr Peter K. night. The task of illustrating the book was made much easier by the photographs and diagrams kindly provided by Professor Ken Holmes, Dr Ron Milligan, Professor Basil Northover, Dr Hans Warrick, Dr John Squire, Dr JetT Harford, Dr Mary Reedy, Dr A vril Somlyo, Dr Darl Swartz, Dr Marion Greaser, Dr Peter Knight, Dr Gerald OtTer, Dr Roger Craig, Dr Peter Vibert, Dr John Kendrick-Jones, Dr Andrew Jackson, Dr Don Winkelmann, Dr Andrew Sowerby and Dr Richard Ankrett. I am grateful to the Science and Engineering Research Council for funding my travel to Stanford University. Permission to reproduce copyrighted material from the following publishers is gratefully acknowledged. The Physiological Society (Figs 2. 6, 6. 1, 6. 11, 6. 12, 7. 6), The RockefeBer University Press (Figs 3. 5, 4. 8, 8. 3), Academic Press(Figs3. 4,4. 4,4. 15, 9. 1, 9. 2), MacmillanPress(Figs 4. 2, 4. 3, 4. 12, 4. 13, 6. 6, 6. 9, 7. 8, 9. 3), Longman Group (Fig. 6. 7), The Royal Society (Fig. 3. 7) and D. W. Fawcett (Fig. 3. 1).