This book provides a modern investigation into the bifurcation phenomena of physical and engineering problems. Systematic methods - based on asymptotic, probabilistic, and group-theoretic standpoints - are used to examine experimental and computational data from numerous examples (soil, sand, kaolin, concrete, domes). Engineers may find this book, with its minimized mathematical formalism, to be a useful introduction to modern bifurcation theory. For mathematicians, static bifurcation theory for finite-dimensional systems, as well as its implications for practical problems, is illuminated by the numerous examples. This second edition strengthens the theoretical backgrounds of group representation theory and its application, uses of block-diagonalization in bifurcation analysis, and includes up-to-date topics of the bifurcation analysis of diverse materials from rectangular parallelepiped sand specimens to honeycomb cellular solids. From the reviews: "The book is an excellent source of practical applications for mathematicians working in this field. It fulfills its goal of helping close the gap between mathematical and engineering practice in bifurcation analysis [...]. A short set of exercises at the end of each chapter makes the book more useful as a text." Mathematical Reviews