String theory is the leading candidate for a consistent quantum theory of gravity. It has also become a central area of research in mathematical physics, with different additional applications which range from heavy ion physics to condensed matter, cosmology or mathematics. Notwithstanding this, the excitement fostered in 1984 actually came from the coexistence of chiral anomaly free gauge theories and gravity in string theory, raising the expectation of an ultimate unification of Standard Model (SM) and gravitational interactions into a consistent string qantum theory. The enthusiasm was thus motivated by particle physics phenomenological goals.

Since then much effort has been dedicated to explore the possible embedding of the SM of particle physics in string theory, a field commonly known as string phenomenology. However, although there are by now several excellent books introducing the general field of string theory, there is no systematic and detailed coverage of the large body of knowledge accumulated in string phenomenology. This lack has become particularly acute after the duality revolution of 1995, when the advent of D-branes made the string engineering of non-trivial gauge theories more flexible, thus providing new avenues to realize the SM in string theory.

Consequently, and due to the seemingly imposing complexity of string theory, this field has not permeated much to many particle physics phenomenologists and model builders, who feel reluctant to struggle with a jungle of papers and reviews to extract the phenomenological aspects of string theory.