"This excellent book fills a unique and valuable niche. It is a great introduction to some fascinating physics, emphasizing the fundamental concepts and the connections to other complex systems. There are lots of technical volumes on spin glasses, but no other book works at this nonmathematical level, certainly not while still being so accurate and insightful."--Cosma Shalizi, Carnegie Mellon University

"This primer builds the theory of spin glasses, starting with the real physical systems and experiments that inspired the theory. Stein and Newman work hard to make this material accessible to nonphysicists, and they write in an entertaining and friendly way. Even as a physicist I learned a fair amount."--Cris Moore, Santa Fe Institute