Book excerpt: This is an advanced textbook for graduate students and researchers wishing to learn about high temperature superconductivity in copper oxides, in particular the Kamimura-Suwa (K-S) model. Because a number of models have been proposed since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity by Bednorz and Müller in 1986, the book first explains briefly the historical development that led to the K-S model. It then focuses on the physical background necessary to understand the K-S model and on the basic principles behind various physical phenomena such as electronic structures, electrical, thermal and optical properties, and the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity.