Book excerpt: This book is the fourth in the series of review papers on advanced problems of phase transitions and critical phenomena, the first three volumes appeared in 2004, 2007, and 2012. It presents reviews in those aspects of criticality and related subjects that have currently attracted much attention due to new and essential contributions. The contents are divided into five chapters, and they include: anomalous diffusion, kinetics of pattern formation, scaling, renormalization group approaches in soft matter and socio-physics, Monte Carlo simulation of critical Casimir forces.As with the first three volumes, this book is based on the review lectures that were given in Lviv (Ukraine) at the “Ising lectures” — a traditional annual workshop on phase transitions and critical phenomena which aims to bring together scientists working in these fields with university students and those who are interested in the subject.