Book excerpt: The book includes all the recent major advances in the field of Laser Spectroscopy. Major results span from the control of matter by electromagnetic fields (trapping and coding) to high precision measurements on simple atomic systems and to quantum optics with single atoms. As an outstanding contribution, the reader will find in the book the first report of the Bose-Einstein condensation achieved by laser-cooling of rubidium atoms. Achievements in the technology of tunable sources, in particular of miniaturized solid state devices, are also reported. Most recent advances in molecular spectroscopy are illustrated with emphasis on 'cooled' spectra, clusters and high accuracy frequency references. Topics such as atomic interferometry and microcavity quantum optics are also covered.