The book contains many new products. Each chapter has a large number of tasks attached; moreover, along with the lungs, there are also tasks of increased difficulty. It should be noted that Wilde's book does not cover the entire problem of search - its subject is what is called "static optimization" in Russian literature. In addition, in a number of places the author operates very freely with special terms. However, in an effort to maintain the style of presentation inherent in the original, we did not make changes where it was not necessary. The book is an introduction to the theory of search and will undoubtedly be useful to engineers and scientists specializing in the field of automatic control.