Book excerpt: This volume contains a selection of the pioneering papers by Nobel Laureate George Porter. It outlines his work on fast reactions, occurring in times from milliseconds to femtoseconds, in photochemistry, photosynthesis and solar energy, and includes the papers which led to the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 for his work on flash photolysis. Lord Porter, President of the Royal Society from 1985 to 1990, is Chairman of the Centre for Photomolecular Sciences, Imperial College, and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry of the Royal Institution of Great Britain.This book is divided into 11 chapters, each covering an area of Lord Porter's work. Each chapter will contain an introduction by Lord Porter, a selection of his most important papers in that field and a list of his other relevant papers.