This book is aimed at advanced university students of physics and related disciplines. It reflects the evolution of a research area that receives contributions from numerous disciplines, such as physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology, among others. It establishes a path from the study of phase transitions to the current understanding of the behaviour of living matter through exploring experimental and theoretical concepts surrounding crystallography, physicochemistry of surfaces, magnetic systems, liquid crystals, polymers, statistical mechanics, superconductivity and superfluidity, growth of interfaces, fractals, non-linear systems, chaos and self-organization.