The book contains a series of reviews for ten vegetable crops/crop groups: potato, tomato, Brassica, okra, Capsicum, Allium, cucurbits, lettuce, eggplant and carrot. Chapter 1 presents an introduction that in some areas is perfunctory, offering little more than examples from the crop chapters. These vary significantly in length and in the range and depth of the information presented, but in general provide comment on the origin of the crop(s), taxonomy, crop production, genetic resources conservation, cytogenetics and crop improvement through the use of conventional and molecular breeding methods. There is a benefit to having colour figures included to enhance the information presented in each chapter, but the seemingly random placement of all colour plates in the cucurbit chapter lessened the expected impact. No doubt the choice of colour plates was an economic decision, but some of the black and white figures are poor and would have benefited significantly from colour.

However, on a positive note, the structure of the book in crop chapters makes it an extremely useful reference volume for students and researcher workers, both generalists and crop specialists alike. There is a wealth of information on the development of the crops, the status of current research and a view of the future directions for crop improvement work. Readers will find extensive literature citation lists offering them the opportunity to target their specific interest further.