The basic processes of evolution are changes in gene frequency and the emergence of new types by mutation and gene duplication. Before molecular genetics became established, evolutionary biologists had to make inferences based on phenotypic observations. Molecular genetics has provided the means of assessing the genetical biochemistry behind outward phenotypic differences. This book is an attempt to make molecular population genetics intelligible to both biologists and applied mathematicians. The mathematical sections presuppose a knowledge of calculus and probability theory. Two substantial chapters deal with the mathematical theory of the relevant parts of population genetics. The rest of the book deals, from the molecular genetic standpoint, with evolutionary history, mutation, genetic variability in natural populations, differentiation of populations and speciation, and long-term evolution. As one would expect from his published work, the author considers that data on molecular evolution are more easily explained by the neutral mutation theory than by neo-Darwinism, although he points out that the neutral theory is "heavily dependent on the assumption that the rate of neutral or near-neutral mutations is constant per year rather than per generation."J.D. Turton