Book excerpt: Interdisciplinary research on superconducting oxides is the main focus of the contributions in this volume. Several aspects of the thin film field from fundamental properties to applications are examined. Interesting results for the Bi system are also reviewed. The 132 papers, including 8 invited, report mainly on the 1-2-3 system, indicating that the Y-Ba-Cu-O and related compounds are still the most intensively studied materials in this field. The volume attests to the significant progress that has been made in this field, as well as reporting on the challenging problems that still remain to be solved.