Book excerpt: Professor Roman Jackiw is a theoretical physicist renowned for his many fundamental contributions and discoveries in quantum and classical field theories, ranging from high energy physics and gravitation to condensed matter and the physics of fluids. Among his major achievements is the establishment of the presence of the famous Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomalies in quantum field theory, a discovery with far-reaching implications for the structure of the Standard Model of particle physics and all attempts to go beyond it. Other important contributions, among many, that one may mention here are the topological mass term in gravity and gauge theories, and the fractionalization of fermion number and charge in the presence of topological objects.Roman Jackiw, a Professor Emeritus at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics, is the recipient of several international awards including the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics and the Dirac Medal of the ICTP. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and honorary doctor of Kiev, Montreal, Tours, Turin and Uppsala universities.To celebrate his 80th birthday, many students and colleagues of Professor Jackiw have come together to share interesting anecdotes of working with him as well as their latest research, some of it inspired by his work. Edited by his former students Antti Niemi and Terry Tomboulis together with his long-time friend KK Phua, this festschrift volume is a must-have collection for all theoretical physicists.