This successful text comprises a course on nuclear physics that leads the reader on an exploration of the field and its applications from nuclei to astrophysical issues.As a primer this course will lay the foundations for more specialized subjects. The physics is introduced with arguments based on simple ideas such as the empirical structure of nuclear forces and its interplay with the Pauli principle and Coulomb repulsion. The book then develops elementary nuclear models and illustrates nuclear systematics with experimental data. Reactions and decays are discussed both phenomenologically and from the point of view of fundamental electro-weak interaction theory while ther coverage of fission and fusion emphasize nuclear energy production. This leads directly into nuclear astrophysics and nucleosynthesis and cosmology.