This volume consists of two review articles. E Hadjimichael's contribution, 'The Nuclear Three-Body Systems', concentrates on recent experimental and theoretical progress achieved in the field. Together with a pedagogical survey of the theoretical framework extensive discussion on the 3N system in the continuum and reactions of electromagnetic probes with 3N systems are provided. 'Four-Nucleon Transfer Reactions' by W Oelert reviews many aspects of α-particle transfer studies. A careful and balanced presentation of both theory and experiment is given. Reasonable agreement between the two is observed. Both reviews contain copious reference lists.