The book covers all the soil mechanics and foundation engineering topics that are commonly included in civil engineering degree courses, and provides a number of springboards into related advanced topics. Although it is intended principally to satisfy the needs of civil engineering students, this guide should also prove useful to those practising engineers who are unaware of the powerful and elegant reconstruction of the subject which has been made possible by the recent concepts of plasticity, dilatancy and critical states. The book has been written on the assumption that ideas rather than codes or formulae are the backbone of successful engineering. It has been well received around the world both by new students and experienced engineers.