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Gyroscopic systems are a practically very important class of mechanical systems. They are characterised by the occurence of so-called gyroscopic terms in the equations of motion. For a linear system this means that, besides the symmetric mass and stiffness matrices, there is an skewsymmetric gyroscopic ``damping'' matrix which, however, does not result in a reduction of the system's energy. The appearance of gyroscopic forces results in a number of interesting and sometimes astonishing effects. For example, the so-called gyroscopic stabilization of an statically unstable equilibrium due to rotation is one of the best known of these effects. Moreover, the influence of real physical damping on this gyroscopic stabilization is a very subtle one. In fact, it destroys it. In the present book four groups of gyroscopic systems are treated which, coming from quite different fields of mechanical engineering, show the great importance of this class of problems. In the first and fifth chapters the authors treat flow-induced vibrations. Here gyroscopic forces are generated due to the interaction of flow with deforming structures. An excellent presentation based on modern nonlinear dynamical system theory is given in the first chapter, which explains both the physical behaviour and the mathematics necessary for its understanding. In the fifth chapter, some more special aspects are examined. In the second chapter the authors consider nonlinear oscillations of rotors, explaining in an excellent way all striking phenomena occurring in rotating machines like, for example, forward and backward whirling motions. Comparison with experiments validate the theoretical findings. A quite interesting group of problems is dealt with in the third chapter, where the authors treat the dynamics of high-speed axially moving flexible material systems. A typical example is an axially translating cable where due to the flexibility, similarly as in a fluid conveying tube, arise gyroscopic forces. The fourth chapter is a general introduction to the derivation of the equations of motion of gyroelastic systems. This is a field very important for spacecraft dynamics where gyroscopic effects are relevant for spin stabilization of flexible satellites. In the final chapter entitled ``Localization phenomena in structural dynamics'', the authors investigate the occurence of mode localization in repetitive structures under the action of gyroscopic forces. Practically important applications are antennas for space structures or discs in computer drives. The book certainly demonstrates the importance of the mentioned fields, and is a valuable contribution to the literature both in the presentation of the subject and in the explanation of occurring phenomena.