The book summarizes the recent progress in ceramics research. Several novel concepts for materials selection and microstructural design are presented, as are experimental results that substantiate the ideas. These newly designed materials include multiphase ceramic composites of three phases with strengths of 1000 MPa and toughnessof 10 MPam0.5. They can be fabricated to mimic the macrostructure of wood and are machineable because of their novel microstructure