The idea for a book dealing specifically with elementary processes in silicon oxidation was formulated after a stimulating symposium that I organized at the American Physical Society meeting in March, 1998. The symposium, en- titled "Dynamics of silicon etching and oxidation," explored the mechanisms governing silicon oxidation. With three experimental talks (Hines, Weldon and Gibson) and two theoretical presentations (Pasquarello and Pantelides), it provided a good cross-section of the recent efforts to characterize the in- terfacial region of silicon oxide grown on silicon. The novelty of...