Book excerpt: There has been rapid development in the area of adaptive computation over the past decade. The International Conference on Recent Advances in Adaptive Computation was held at Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, China) to explore these new directions. The conference brought together specialists to discuss modern theories and practical applications of adaptive methods. This volume contains articles reflecting the invited talks given by leading mathematicians at the conference. It is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in methods of computation.