The NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Painleve Transcendents, their Asymp- totics and Physical Applications," held at the Alpine Inn in Sainte-Adele, near Montreal, September 2 -7, 1990, brought together a group of experts to discuss the topic and produce this volume. There were 41 participants from 14 countries and 27 lectures were presented, all included in this volume. The speakers presented reviews of topics to which they themselves have made important contributions and also re- sults of new original research. The result is a volume which, though multiauthored, has the character of a...