This book aims to present the current ‘state of the art’ in all aspects of barley from DNA sequences associated with key traits for breeding, cultivation and utilization, and biotic and abiotic threats. Chapters are provided by expert individuals or groups, ensuring accurate and up-to-date information, but generating some problems not fully overcome, e.g. considerable repetition of some themes, such as applications of molecular breeding techniques, across several chapters. This demonstrates a generally limited cross-referencing between chapters, although the linking between malting and brewing and both endosperm mobilization and other end-uses is effective. Good overviews, with references for the expert to access more detail are, as indicated by one contributor, appropriate for a book of this type, but there is some variation, in depth and detail, between chapters.

The book is aimed at an academic rather than a general readership and should achieve wide approval amongst barley scientists, although familiarity with techniques and terminology may be necessary for some specialist areas. The geographical subdivision of chapters on breeding and agronomy will enhance international appeal, although extension of this approach to food and feed uses would have been a useful addition. Information on varieties and products from less-developed countries, where barley remains an important food crop, would balance the emphasis on improving nutritional quality, or reducing diffuse pollution, in developed areas. Overall, therefore, the book is not without flaws, but it remains a comprehensive source of information and a valuable addition to the literature on a hugely important crop species.