Presented at a relatively elementary level, this introduction to the study of dissipative dynamical systems is addressed to an audience which is scientifically cultivated but not specialized in this discipline. The book encompasses the analysis of all time-dependent phenomena, treating the major types of behavior or of evolution without direct reference to the material aspects. It focuses on physics and chemistry and avoids mathematical treatment, and in a panorama which is coherent and accessible, the book describes concretely the important dynamical phenomena and the way in which they appear in experimental reality. Also covered is basic vocabulary and regular periodic behavior, going on to apply them in analytical methods.