List of inserts; Preface; 1. Overview and overture; 2. Relativistic strings; 3. A closer look at the world-sheet; 4. Strings on circles and T-duality; 5. Background fields and world-volume actions; 6. D-branes tension and boundary states; 7. Supersymmetric strings; 8. Supersymmetric strings and T-duality; 9. World-volume curvature couplings; 10. The geometry of D-branes; 11. Multiple D-branes and bound states; 12. Strong coupling and string duality; 13. D-branes and geometry I; 14. K3 orientifolds and compactification; 15. D-branes and geometry II; 16. Towards M- and F-theory; 17. D-branes and black holes; 18. D-branes, gravity and gauge theory; 19. The holographic renormalisation group; 20. Taking stock; References; Index.