FIELD THEORY, DISORDER AND SIMULATIONS

“This book is a wonderful illustration of the unity and of the power of theoretical concepts in the hands of an amazingly imaginative physicist with universal interests. Very often one hears complaints about the hyperspecialization of modern science; indeed to make progress on a definite topic requires a good specialized background, but it does not prevent scientists with such a wide angle inquisitive mind to understand and contribute significantly to so many different areas. Fermi, Feynman, Landau were like that in their time; similarly Parisi has been illustrating over the last twenty years how much field theory, scaling, universality, complex systems, disordered systems …, were powerful ways of looking at science. This collection of reprints contains a good illustration of this theme, with some articles which are not readily available in standard journals, and it is thus a pleasure to welcome this new book.” — Edouard Brezin, ENS (France), 1992

“This book contains some of the best lectures of Giorgio Parisi, given over the last 20 years at several schools and conferences (mainly Cargese and Les Houches), together with some research papers that are meant to complement them. The works have been selected by Parisi, who completes the book with an original introduction in which he gives reasons for the choices … a very useful collection of material by one of the most outstanding physicists of his generation. The reader will enjoy the book and learn many things, even if already acquainted with the work of the author.” — Emili Elizalde, Mathematical Reviews