UNDERSTANDING NONLINEAR DYNAMICS is based on an undergraduate course taught for many years to students in the biological sciences. The text provides a clear and accessible development of many concepts from contemporary dynamics, including stability and multistability, cellular automata and excitable media, fractals, cycles, and chaos. A chapter on time-series analysis builds on this foundation to provide an introduction to techniques for extracting information about dynamics from data. The text will be useful for courses offered in the life sciences or other applied science programs, or as a supplement to emphasize the application of subjects presented in mathematics or physics courses. Extensive examples are derived from the experimental literature, and numerous exercise sets can be used in teaching basic mathematical concepts and their applications. Concrete applications of the mathematics are illustrated in such areas as biochemistry, neurophysiology, cardiology, and ecology. The text also provides an entry point for researchers not familiar with mathematics but interested in applications of nonlinear dynamics to the life sciences.