I would like to emphasize an aspect of this book that none of the other reviewers have mentioned.  The very first paragraph on page 1 offers what I consider the central vision of this ambitious text:<br><br>"In this book, a central theme will be a Geometric Principle:  The laws of physics must all be expressible as geometric (coordinate-independent and reference-frame independent) relationships between geometric objects (scalars, vectors, tensors,...) that represent physical entities."<br><br>Kip Thorne, Charles Misner, and John Archibald Wheeler attempted to fulfill this same geometric vision for General Relativity in the early 1970s with the publication of the 1279-page landmark work, Gravitation.  One can therefore see this recent book by Blandford and Thorne as the extension of the geometric program to many areas of classical physics.  For those of us who are "true believers" in the geometric program, this book is a welcome addition to the literature.<br><br>One remark on the physical quality of the book under review.  Despite having 1511 pages, the book is hardbound and sturdy enough to hold up under years of study.  The paper quality is first-rate, and there are even color graphics scattered throughout.  Princeton University Press is to be commended for producing a first-class textbook at a reasonable price.  Their recent hardbound republication of the classic book Gravitation is also extremely well done, and for an amazingly low price.