review1:
This is a very well-written book. It achieved both mathematical clearness and simplicity. I especially like the first part, unconstrained optimization. On the one hand, unconstrained optimization is very widely used. On the other hand, there isn't much content in it. Yet, there aren't many books explaining this small area clearly. This book starts with describing the structures of all methods, which gives you a sort of bird's eye view. It then devotes one chapter to each of the 3 major families of optimization methods. Comparing with another popular book, Numerical Recipes, which is orgnized by individual algorithms, this book will cerntainly gives the reader better understanding of the essence of all the algorithms. And as the name says, it's about 'practial' methods. You'll have no problem to implement the algorithms in the book and there are also many working examples to help you see how an algorithm works and help verify the implementation.
review2:
This is a good book from an award winning author and researcher in this subject. However, the 2000 publication date shown refers to the release of the paperback version. There is no new content since 1987 when the 2nd ed. was originally published in hardcover.
I prefer Dennis and Schnabel's _Numerical Methods for Unconstrained Optimization and Nonlinear Equations_ for Newton-derived methods in unconstrained optimization, but Fletcher's book has the added material on constrained optimization (Part 2) that makes it more complete if one wants a single reference that covers the gamut of optimization.n.
review3:
I recommend this book for anybody needing to learn the basics of optimization as well as a reference for people already in the field. Dr. Fletcher covers the basics, advantages, and disadvantages of optimization methods capitalizing on his long experience on the field. I find the book to be clearly written and easy to follow. Although notation is clearly explained when introduced, the author gives a notation summary at the begining of the book. This makes the book usefull as a learning as well as a reference. Although the book has not changed since the second edition, the optimization methods it describes are still the most-widely-applicable ones.