Book excerpt: This volume documents the proceedings of the Second Symposium on Metallized Plastics: Fundamental and Applied Aspects held under the aegis of the Dielectric Science and Technology Division of the Electrochemical Society in Montreal, Canada, May 7-10, 1990. The first symposium on this topic was held in Chicago, October 10-12, 1988 and the proceedings of l which have been chronicled in a hard-bound volume l As pointed out in the Preface to the proceedings of the first symposium the metallized plastics find scores of applications ranging from very mundane to very sophisticated. Even a cursory look at the literature will convince that this field has sprouted; and there is every reason to believe that with all the research and development activities taking place, new and exciting applications of metallized plastics will emerge. The program for the second symposium was very comprehensive as it included 46 papers covering many aspects of metallized plastics. This symposium was a testimonial to the brisk research activity and keen interest in the topic of metallized plastics. The success of this symposium reinforced our earlier belief that there was a definite need to hold symposia on this topic on a regular basis. Concomitantly, the third symposium in this vein was held in Phoenix, Arizona, October 13-18, 1991 and the fourth is planned for May 16-21, 1993 in Honolulu, Hawaii. As regards the present volume, it contains a total of 35 papers covering a variety of topics ranging from very fundamental to very applied.