From the reviews of earlier editions:

Certainly, the student who is led into the laser field by this text is lucky. The text is excellent and filled with appropriate illustrations. The questions are also helpful as they highlight the important topics. All important types of lasers are considered and for each type the proper background is developed. For many years, this book has been the standard against which other textbooks in this field were measured, mostly unfavourably. This edition will certainly retain its top place. (Optics & Laser Technology, 31, 1999)

Professor Svelto is himself a longtime laser pioneer and his text shows the breadth of his broad acquaintance with all aspects of the field ... Anyone mastering the contents of this book will be well prepared to understand advanced treatises and research papers in laser science and technology. (Arthur L. Schawlow, 1981 Nobel Laureate in Physics)

Already well established as a self-contained introduction to the physics and technology of lasers ... Professor Svelto's book, in this lucid translation by David Hanna, can be strongly recommended for self-study or teaching at the final-year undergraduate or first-year post-graduate levels. (Physics Bulletin)

A thorough understanding of this book in conjunction with one of the existing volumes on laser safety will go a long way in providing the health physicist with the understanding he needs ... Highly recommended. (Health Physics)

Introduces laser science and technology with the accessibility appropriate for the nonspecialist and the enthusiasm of the pioneer. (Laser Focus)

A very good introduction to laser theory and practice ... aimed at upper-level undergraduate students. It is logically organized and easy to read ... Most of the basic mathematical framework needed to understand this evolving field is presented. Every chapter contains a good set of problems, answers to some of which are given in the back. (Sci-Tech News)

From the reviews of the fifth edition:

The aim of the book is stated as 'to provide a broad and unified description of laser behaviour at the simplest level which is compatible with a correct physical understanding'. ... The index is comprehensive and helpful. The book is well-structured and illustrated with numerous black-and-white figures. ... The overall quality of the making, the print and the paper is good. The book can be recommended without constraint especially to advanced undergraduate students who look for a broad overview of modern laser physics and technology. (Manuel Vogel, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 53 (2) March-April, 2012)

Orazio Svelto is Professor of Quantum Electronics at the Polytechnic Institute of Milan and Director of the Quantum Electronics Center of the Italian National Research Council. His research has covered a wide range of activity in the field of laser physics and quantum electronics, starting from the very beginning of these disciplines. This activity includes ultrashort-pulse generation and applications, development of laser resonators and mode-selection techniques, laser applications in biology and medicine, and development of solid-state lasers. Professor Svelto is the author of more than 150 scientific papers and his researches have been the subject of more than 50 invited papers and international conferences. He has served as a program chair of the IX International Quantum Electronics Conference (1976), as a chair of the European program committee for CLEO '85 and CLEO '90, and he was general co-chair for the first CLEO-Europe Conference (1994). He is an elected member of the Italian Accademia dei XL and a Fellow of the IEEE.