Book excerpt: This book can be regarded as 'Soft computing for physicists and chemists self-taught'. It prepares the readers with a solid background of soft computing and how to adapt soft computing techniques to problem solving in physical and chemical research. Soft computing methods have been little explored by researchers in physical and chemical sciences primarily because of the absence of books that bridge the gap between the traditional computing paradigm pursued by researchers in science and the new soft computing paradigm that has emerged in computer science. This book is the interface between these primary sources and researchers in physics and chemistry.