Lipids are very important both as components of human nutrition and in applications such as the chemical, cosmetics and food industries. At present the world oil supply depends on conventional sources and changes in the political and economical map of the world may mean consumer demand will surpass supplies. In developed nations consumer preferences due to nutrition and health factors have also created a need to produce new types of oil. Many nations lack the power to purchase fats ,and oil due to shortages in hard currency. These nations have a vast number of plants that can be developed and used in extracting oil for home use and for sale as cash crops. Also, a vast amount of waste from food processing, such as tomatoes, peaches, plums and grapes, can be utilized to extract valuable amounts of usable oil. Biotechnology, genetic engineering, enzyme tech­ nologies and new processes are all being utilized in lipids research to develop new and modified types of oil for different applications; such developments include the high oleic acid, sunflower and rapeseed oils. The development of cocoa butter substitute is another example. This highly practical book reviews the methods of improving oil charac­ teristics from existing sources, and the technology and economics of developing under-utilized sources. It is written for lipid chemists, chemical engineers, food technologists, cosmetologists and nutritionists. Graduate and undergraduate students will find value in the data. B.S.K.