Book excerpt: Fuzzy Modelling: Paradigms and Practice provides an up-to-date and authoritative compendium of fuzzy models, identification algorithms and applications. Chapters in this book have been written by the leading scholars and researchers in their respective subject areas. Several of these chapters include both theoretical material and applications. The editor of this volume has organized and edited the chapters into a coherent and uniform framework. The objective of this book is to provide researchers and practitioners involved in the development of models for complex systems with an understanding of fuzzy modelling, and an appreciation of what makes these models unique. The chapters are organized into three major parts covering relational models, fuzzy neural networks and rule-based models. The material on relational models includes theory along with a large number of implemented case studies, including some on speech recognition, prediction, and ecological systems. The part on fuzzy neural networks covers some fundamentals, such as neurocomputing, fuzzy neurocomputing, etc., identifies the nature of the relationship that exists between fuzzy systems and neural networks, and includes extensive coverage of their architectures. The last part addresses the main design principles governing the development of rule-based models. Fuzzy Modelling: Paradigms and Practice provides a wealth of specific fuzzy modelling paradigms, algorithms and tools used in systems modelling. Also included is a panoply of case studies from various computer, engineering and science disciplines. This should be a primary reference work for researchers and practitioners developing models of complex systems.