1. Overview of light, plasmonics, and particles 2. Maxwell's equations for single-scattering particles 3. Fluctuational electrodynamics and thermal emission 4. The Lorenz-Mie theory 5. Optical force categorizations in the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory 6. T-matrix method for particles of arbitrary shape and composition 7. Applications of Maxwell's equations to light scattering by dielectric particles 8. Scattering by compact particles using surface integral equations 9. Discrete dipole approximation 10. Discrete dipole approximation with surface interaction 11. The thermal discrete dipole approximation and the discrete system Green's function methods for computational near-field radiative heat transfer 12. Rational design and optical tuning of plasmonic nanoparticles 13. Particle characterization with laboratory nephelometers 14. Imaging aerosol particles with digital in-line holography 15. Polarimetric remote sensing of cometary particles 16. Optical properties of nonspherical, light-absorbing particles: Black carbon and mineral dust aerosols 17. Carbonaceous particles in flames and fires 18. Radiative cooling paints 19. Plasmonic nanofluids for solar thermal applications 20. Near-field energy harvesting 21. Nanoantennas 22. Near-field radiative transfer for biologically inspired structures 23. Biosensing based on plasmonic devices 24. Plasmon and phonon polaritons in planar van der Waals heterostructures 25. Spectrally selective filters and their applications 26. Concluding remarks and future directions