This chapter provides the fundamentals and context for the entire manual by describing the development of Load Research activities and outlining the Load Research process. A brief description of each chapter is included as well as a summary of the valuable and necessary uses for Load Research results and useful references for more detailed information. In addition, this download contains the Contents, Foreword and Acknowledgements, as well as the following resources that the load research practitioner will find invaluable: Glossary of Load Research Terms, Table of Acronyms, Appendix of Mathematical Notations, and Appendix of Statistical Distributions.