The book's main achievement is the incorporation of both quantum and statistical fluctuations into a quantum field theoretic treatment of critical phenomena. This yields significant new insights into an abundance of problems, positions them in a much more general context, and offers an unprecedented power to analyze experimental and numerical data and predict new effects.

Another significant result concerns the developmentof a consistent theoretical framework that resolves a long-standing inconsistency in the theory of Bose condensation. Using the approach developed here, two new universality classes are subsequently identified.  

A final major result addresses the exotic scenario of deconfined quantum criticality. Within this framework, the book predicts the Bose condensation of particles with half-integer spin - the first- ever made in this regard. In closing, a smoking gun criterion to test for this exotic condensate is established.