Discussions and papers from a March 2000 workshop report on advances in astronomy from observers, modelers, and theoreticians in the field. Part I discusses the interstellar medium, gas, and dust, from cold to warm and hot. Part II examines stellar populations and feedback, and Part III considers links with dynamics and kinematics, and mass and energy budgets in Local Group galaxies and in distant galaxies. Specific topics include molecular gas in nearby quasars, interstellar bubbles surrounding O and Of stars in Per OB1, gaseous halos and the interstellar disk-halo connection, and X-ray emission from galaxy pairs. Lacks a subject index. Alloin is affiliated with the European Southern Observatory, Chile. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)