The first edition of Couplings and Joints was published in 1986 and it took me 5 years to put it together. When I started work on this edition, I thought the task would be a lot simpler, but its preparation has taken me almost as long. The new edition is almost 100 pages longer. It has over 700 illustrations and tables (over 150 more than in the first edition) to help the reader understand coupling design, selection, and application.