Includes index.

1. Fourth State of Matter -- Same But Different -- What's In a Name? -- Irving Langmuir -- Forces and Feedbacks -- 2. Music and Dance of Plasmas -- Langmuir Waves (plasma oscillations) -- Alfven Waves Down the Line -- Rough Ride from the Sun -- Hannes Alfven -- 3. Sun-Earth Connection -- Lighting Up the Solar System -- Spots, Loops, and Lariats of Fire -- New Views of the Sun -- Blast from the Mass -- Mighty Wind -- Eugene N. Parker -- 4. Bringing the Sun to Earth: The Story of Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion -- Magnetic Bottles -- Fusion by Light -- Just a Pinch -- Marshall Rosenbluth -- 5. Cosmic Plasma Theater: Galaxies, Stars, and Accretion Discs -- Shaping Up -- Going to Extremes -- Discs and Holes -- Jet Propulsion -- In the Firing Line -- 6. Putting Plasmas to Work -- Plasma to Read By -- Walls of Light -- Withdrawal and Deposits -- Plasmas and Human Health -- When Push Comes to Shove.