This book will certainly be considered an important reference for astronomers and astrophysicists handling large amounts of data in observational and theoretical approaches to the large scale structures in the universe. The contributions are written with an emphasis on methods. The volume contains among many other topics recent observational results on redshift surveys of clusters and distributions of galaxies and quasars, together with articles on the importance of these findings for future standards and for theoretical predictions. A long historical chapter serves as an introduction. This mixture of textbook and review is aimed at the newcomer to the field as well as at the specialist. Graduate students will find it useful for additional reading.