Hans-Paul Schwefel's book "Evolution and Optimum Seeking" traces the development of Evolution Strategies (ESs) from their origins in the 1960s to their current status as a significant area of research. In 1963, two students at the Technical University of Berlin, Ingo Rechenberg and the author, began experimenting with optimal shapes in fluid flow using a wind tunnel. They found that traditional methods were inefficient and instead proposed using random changes in parameters, inspired by natural mutations, leading to the birth of the evolution strategy. Rechenberg later earned a doctorate for his thesis on biological evolution principles, which introduced the two-membered evolution strategy and a precursor to the (μ+1) strategy. With support from the German Research Association, the work was published in 1977 and 1981. Despite the growing interest in ESs, the author could not continue research in the 1980s due to lack of funding. However, the field has seen a resurgence, evidenced by three consecutive PPSN conferences. The book covers various optimization methods, including hill climbing, gradient, and Newton strategies, as well as random and evolution strategies. It also introduces Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing, and Tabu Search. The author updated the book in 1981, adding new sections on these concepts. The book includes a floppy disk with programs and a user manual, and acknowledges contributors who helped in its production. The content includes an introduction, problem and methods of optimization, hill climbing strategies, gradient strategies, random strategies, evolution strategies, and a comparison of direct search strategies. It also includes appendices with test problems, program codes, and examples. The book concludes with a summary and outlook, references, and an index.Hans-Paul Schwefel's book "Evolution and Optimum Seeking" traces the development of Evolution Strategies (ESs) from their origins in the 1960s to their current status as a significant area of research. In 1963, two students at the Technical University of Berlin, Ingo Rechenberg and the author, began experimenting with optimal shapes in fluid flow using a wind tunnel. They found that traditional methods were inefficient and instead proposed using random changes in parameters, inspired by natural mutations, leading to the birth of the evolution strategy. Rechenberg later earned a doctorate for his thesis on biological evolution principles, which introduced the two-membered evolution strategy and a precursor to the (μ+1) strategy. With support from the German Research Association, the work was published in 1977 and 1981. Despite the growing interest in ESs, the author could not continue research in the 1980s due to lack of funding. However, the field has seen a resurgence, evidenced by three consecutive PPSN conferences. The book covers various optimization methods, including hill climbing, gradient, and Newton strategies, as well as random and evolution strategies. It also introduces Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing, and Tabu Search. The author updated the book in 1981, adding new sections on these concepts. The book includes a floppy disk with programs and a user manual, and acknowledges contributors who helped in its production. The content includes an introduction, problem and methods of optimization, hill climbing strategies, gradient strategies, random strategies, evolution strategies, and a comparison of direct search strategies. It also includes appendices with test problems, program codes, and examples. The book concludes with a summary and outlook, references, and an index.