Book excerpt: This is the first volume in an interdisciplinary three-book series covering the full range of biological, clinical, and surgical aspects in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with craniofacial malformations. This volume opens by considering general topics such as developmental biology and disease classification and then examines in depth the biological basis of the various malformations, including craniosynostoses, cleft-lip and palate with complex orofacial clefts, branchio-oculo-facial syndromes, rare syndromes, soft tissue malformations, and dysgnathia. Psychological aspects, including psychological evaluation methods and therapies and quality of life issues, are then addressed. Finally, all relevant clinical, radiological, and genetic investigations are described and important diagnostic issues are explored. Featuring numerous high-quality illustrations, the book will be of high value for all clinicians, researchers, and postgraduate students who deal with these malformations. The accompanying two volumes describe treatment principles and present in an atlas manner all relevant surgical techniques in detail. The content of this multivolume set, written by the world’s leading research and clinical specialists in their discipline, represents therefore the recent intellect, experience, and state of this medical field.