\chapter*{Preface}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Preface}
This book is suitable for adavnced undergraduate engineering or applied mathematics students or practicing engineers who are interested  in applications of the Lyapunov's direct method method and related techniques to the design of control systems and other applications. There are thorough treatises on the stability analysis using Lyapunov's direct method---see, for example, Yoshizawa~\cite{yoshizawa75}, Hahn~\cite{hahn63}, or Rouche, Habets and Laloy~\cite{rouche77}. These books, however, are technically demanding. Our book, on the other hand, contains elementary exposition of the Lyapunov's direct method followed by a number of applications.