Allen (Texas Tech U.) introduces students in biology, mathematics, and engineering to the basic theory of stochastic processes and to some of their many biological applications, especially in the areas of population dynamics and epidemiology, where she has worked most. The textbook is used in a one-semester graduate course, and requires only a basic background in probability theory, linear algebra, and analysis, but not measure theory. She mentions no date for the first edition, but for the second has broken the chapter on the basic theory of diffusion processes and stochastic differential equation into two, and added examples and exercises from systems biology. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)