This chapter begins with a general overview of the content of this work, which explains the structure and mutual relation between discussed topics. The following text provides brief historical background to chemical kinetics, lays the foundation of transition state theory (TST), and reaction thermodynamics from the early Wilhelmy quantitative study of acid-catalyzed conversion of sucrose, through the deduction of mathematical models to explain the rates of chemical reactions, to the transition state theory (absolute rate theory) developed by Eyring, Evans, and Polanyi. The concept of chemical kinetics and equilibrium is then introduced and described in the historical context.