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This volume is a collection of lectures and selected papers by Giorgio Parisi on the subjects of field theory (perturbative expansions, nonperturbative phenomena and phase transitions), disordered systems (mainly spin glasses) and computer simulations (lattice gauge theories). The basic problems discussed in the field theory section concern the interplay between perturbation theory and nonperturbative phenomena which are present when one deals with infrared or ulraviolet divergences or with nonconvergent perturbative expansions. The section on disordered systems contains a complete discussion about the replica method and its probabilistic interpretation, and also includes a short paper on multifractals. In the simulations section there is a series of lectures devoted to the study of quantum chromodynamics and a review paper on simulations in complex systems. This personal selection of his lectures and papers, complete with an original introduction by Giorgio Parisi, should serve as a reference book for physicists and chemists working in these fields.
