Book excerpt: Volumes 2 and 3 of the 3D QSAR in Drug Design series aim to review the progress being made in CoMFA and other 3D QSAR approaches since the publication of the highly successful first volume about four years ago. Volume 2 (Ligand-Protein Interactions and Molecular Similarity) divides into three sections dealing with Ligand-Protein Interactions, Quantum Chemical Models and Molecular Dynamics Simulations, and Pharmacophore Modelling and Molecular Similarity, respectively. Volume 3 (Recent Advances) is also divided into three sections, namely 3D QSAR Methodology: CoMFA and Related Approaches, Receptor Models and Other 3D QSAR Approaches, and 3D QSAR Applications. More than seventy distinguished scientists have contributed nearly forty reviews of their work and related research to these two volumes which are of outstanding quality and timeliness. These works present an up-to-date coverage of the latest developments in all fields of 3D QSAR.