Book excerpt: Here is unique and comprehensive coverage of modern seismic instrumentation, based on the authors’ practical experience of a quarter-century in seismology and geophysics. Their goal is to provide not only detailed information on the basics of seismic instruments but also to survey equipment on the market, blending this with only the amount of theory needed to understand the basic principles. Seismologists and technicians working with seismological instruments will find here the answers to their practical problems. Instrumentation in Earthquake Seismology is written to be understandable to the broad range of professionals working with seismological instruments and seismic data, whether students, engineers or seismologists. Whether installing seismic stations, networks and arrays, working and calibrating stationary or portable instruments, dealing with response information, or teaching about seismic instruments, professionals and academics now have a practical and authoritative sourcebook. Includes: SEISAN and SEISLOG software systems that are available from http://extras.springer.com and http://www.geo.uib.no/seismo/software/software.html