The first edition of this book was published in 1990 (451pp) and the second in 2005 (549pp). We now intend to substantially update and improve the 2e for a third edition, publication date at the start of 2012. This requires the authors to finalize the 3e by mid-2011, allowing us approximately 20 months to carry out the necessary reading, writing and drafting. We anticipate the book being approximately the same length as the second edition. The book will retain the successful structure of previous editions, and will continue to include a major chapter on the application of basin analysis to petroleum systems. The main changes anticipated are given below (in contents). As with previous editions, the emphasis is on relatively simple theory and models, followed by an application to petroleum systems. In the 3e we will increase the use of seismic reflection data to illustrate structural and stratigraphic styles, but we do not wish to change the overall philosophy. The intention is to encourage a quantitative approach to basin analysis, so we will increase the number of simple problems that can be solved mathematically. we will increasingly stress the need for integration of a very divers range of geoscience subdisciplines in order to understand basin formation and evolution.