These lecture notes attempt to give a pedagogical account of the basic physics of Majorana bound states and the topological superconductors that host them. They introduce the basic concepts as well as possible experimental realizations, emphasizing one-dimensional systems, upon which much of the current experimental activity is focused. In writing these notes, we have preferred simple arguments and explicit derivations that illustrate the main points rather than the theoretically most pleasing or general approach. This is emphatically not a review, and the referencing is not meant to be complete or to accurately reflect the development of the field. Much more complete lists of references can be found in the original literature [1–4].