Book excerpt: The central theme of the conference was the development of an in-depth understanding of blast wave problems and their solutions via a new interdisciplinary effort which encompasses both gas-dynamic and chemical-kinetic approaches. The conference evoked vigorous discussions of the generation and decay of blast waves due to the release of energy from discrete chemical sources in gaseous, solid and liquid media. Of special interest was the relationship between the developing blast waves and chemical energy soruces having finite reaction rates.