Book excerpt: This brief introductory chapter provides a broad overview of materials, biomaterials and the need to understand different techniques to characterize biomaterials. From this chapter, the reader can gain a perspective on how the rest of the topics in different chapters are divided to fully comprehend this inherently multidisciplinary field. Application of appropriate characterization tools can not only save time to fully evaluate different biomaterials, it can also make commercial biomedical devices safer. In the long run, safer biomedical devices can only reduce the pain and suffering of mankind, a dream that resonates with every biomedical researcher.