With the advent of gene sequencing, says Hall (emeritus, U. of Rochester) phylogenetic analysis escaped from its obscure niche in taxonomy to become a core feature of genomics and bioinformatics. The reputation of phylogenetic trees as arcane and difficult remained, however, and indeed was nurtured by the few who used them. They are not difficult, he says, and offers essentially a cookbook for beginners to creating phylogenetic trees from protein or nucleic acid sequencing data. He assumes readers know how to use a personal computer and can get around the World Wide Web. No dates are noted for previous editions. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)