From Inside Dust Jacket of Hardcover Version:
The Traveller Book is an outgrowth of a role-playing game born in 1977. It is a system of science fiction gaming simple enough for an evening's boisterous entertainment, rich enough for years of adventurous campaigning.
This book provides a framework of rules for creating starships, worlds, and interstellar empires. Specific chapters deal with equipment, vehicles, and the details of this universe of the future. The rules also instruct the reader in the techniques of generating unique fictional characters with specific attributes and skills, and the means of exploring—and surviving—the fantastic realms of the future.
As role-players, readers assume the identities of their imaginary characters, seeing the future through those eyes and reacting as the captain of a starship, a down-and-out spacehand, and Imperial courier, or some other future adventurer.
This book contains everything needed to play Traveller, except paper, pencil, and two six-sided dice.