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This book began informally at UCLA in 1970 as an alternative to the data
structures course. Any book which takes eight years to complete must 
have a list of acknowledgements.
Between  the 1970 manuscript and the  present
version stretches an incredible list of revisions and rewritings.
That task was made possible only by the document
preparation system at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
The Artificial Intelligence community is still the superior
developer of computer related tools. 

The final shape of this book has been guided by many sources, but particularly
I would like to mention  Michael Burke and  the San Jose State Mathematics
Department, who
allowed me to use my manuscript in their data structures course.
To Nancy Meller of the UCLA Computer Science Department for typing the
orginal LISP notes.
To Les Earnest of the Stanford A.I. Labs for aid beyond the call of duty.
To Paulette for trying to understand. 
To Richard Manuck of the Stanford Computer Science  Library, a most excellent
librarian with an exceptional library.
To John McCarthy for  the insight  which led to LISP, and
 for establishing an environment at Stanford which
is  staffed so admirably and supplied with so many talented people.
To E, PUB, and the XGP, for existing.
To Dick Dolan and the staff of the H-P Journal, who  both tolerated and
 sympathized with my attempts to transform  the computer generated text into
something which could be typeset.
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Particular mention must go to  Guy Steele
and Gianfranco Prini. Guy  reviewed a much inferior
version of this text. His insights, comments, and criticisms 
were  invaluable. With comments like: "that's not a compromise, it	s a
bloody surrender!", the text was bound to improve. Gianfranco, was more
fortunate; he reviewed the results of Guy's scoldings. 
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Many other people have had significant influence on the text. I feel fortunate
to  be able to acknowledge these individuals: 
Bruce Anderson,
Bob Boyer,
Michael Clancy,
Bob Doran,
Daniel Friedman,
Richard Gabriel,
Michael Gordon,
Patrick Greussay, 
Anthony Hearn,
Freidrich von#Henke,
Forrest Howard,
Bill McKeeman, 
Peter Milne, 
J#S. Moore,
Jorge Morales,
Charles Prenner,
Steve Russell, 
Hanan Samet,
Vic Scheinman,
Herbert Stoyan, 
Dennis Ting,
and Steve Ward. 
I apologize to any individuals I neglected to mention; I
must surely have forgotten someone.

Similarly there are topics  related to LISP which I have neglected.
The whole area of Artificial Intelligence applications has been
slighted, but
for every author there must come a time when you have to say "Enough!"
I've been saying that for several years. It is particularly difficult
to  cease when dealing with a topic as  dynamic as LISP. Many sections
only hint at deeper problems, and surely some errors persist; but "Enough!"

As always, it is the author's responsibility for the final shape of a
document; the substantial and textual errors, errors of omission and commission
are all mine. Each of the reviewers objected strongly to one or more facets
of this book; to some, it was too theoretical; for some, too  practical.
I must have done something right.
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\To my parents, John & Esther Allen
\\To my friend and wife, Ruth E. Davis
\\\To my sons, Christopher & Geoffrey 
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%2Production Note%1

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The creation, revision, and styling of this document were perfomed using
 the Document Production System at Stanford's Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory; the final pages of this book are  computer generated.
Since higher quality type was desired and such technology was not yet
readily available, an attempt was made to generate
more traditional typeset output. That attempt finally failed.
Thus the production of this book is a uniquely twentieth century experience:
a result of a ninteenty century resistance  and a twenty-first century 
anticipation.