Book excerpt: Superconducting devices, which can carry huge currents and generate strong magnetic fields without losing energy, are improving at a tremendous pace. This book provides a modern, up-to-date reference on both the physics and the technology of superconducting magnets. It is unique in combining the theoretical aspects of superconductivity, electromagnetic field theory, and the thermodynamics of helium cooling with the technological details of producing and engineering high performance superconducting materials. The book provides the reliable, expert advice for designing, manufacturing, and testing complex high field superconducting magnets of predictable performance, and it places particular emphasis on beam transport and accelerator magnets in high energy particle physics.