Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics by Masatoshi Nei, Sudhir Kumar ISBN: 0195135857 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 15 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33
Rating: 4
Summary: OK, until something better comes along
Comment: Nei and Kumar's "Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics" is basically an updated version of Nei's 1987 "Molecular Evolutionary Genetics" book. Accordingly, attention is shifted to reviewing many recent advances in methods of phylogenetic inference with an obvious bias towards distance methods, particularly those which the senior author devised. In fairness, they give decent coverage to the more popular parsimony and likelihood methods as well. The great strength of the book is the number of real examples used to illustrate properties of the methods, and their focus on statistical methodology without miring the reader in detailed mathematics. The disappointment is that while breadth of coverage is tolerable, depth is lacking. Expanding their views on the shortcomings of likelihood in choosing tree topology and likelihood ratio-tests in choosing models of sequence evolution would have been most enlightening, particularly as these issues have been brushed lightly aside by phylo-likelihoodists. Other methods (Hadamard transformations, Bayesian phylogenetic inference) were absent altogether. Further the chapter on molecular clocks was disappointing--old 1980s controversies were rehashed, while there was nothing on methods that relax the assumption of rate constancy while still allowing divergences to be dated. Admittedly some of this is very new and research is ongoing, but there isn't even a hint of these developments in this chapter. Another plus though is the addition of a chapter on inferring ancestral states of molecular sequences.
Unlike Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, far too little of the book is devoted to methods at the population level, and what is there again smacks of state-of-the-art 15-20 years ago. I was hoping for much more coverage of microsatellite and AFLP data. There was very little for either, while now rarely-used RFLPs were given extensive coverage.
In short, this book was too short, particularly for the price, and I almost gave it 3 stars rather than 4. However, if you are a phylogeneticist, you will probably want to have this book on your shelf. A lighter introduction for the uninitiated would be Rod Page's "Molecular Evolution" or Graur and Li's "Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution". However, my hopes for a good comprehensive text and reference on phylogenetic methods now rest on publication of Joseph Felsenstein's "Inferring Phylogenies".
Rating: 5
Summary: Top in its Field
Comment: This book is an excellent text and reference for both graduate students and faculty. It covers several topics in molecular evolution and phylogenetic analysis, as the title suggests. It stands as a unique contribution because the authors explain the mathematical and conceptual framework of a given topic in molecular evolution or phylogenetic analysis and give subsequent examples to show how various analytical methods can be applied to the study of that topic. In that context, the explanation of concepts was exceptionally clear, which made it easy to understand potentially difficult subject matter. This book is highly recommended to those wishing to study the analysis of genes and proteins in an evolutionary framework.
Rating: 4
Summary: An advanced textbook for graduate students.
Comment: This is an advanced textbook on population genetics and molecular evolution. It is best recommended for graduate students with some background in population genetics and statistics. It gives a broad and thorough view of the field of molecular evolution and phylogenic different models up to date. The authors have included a lot of numerical examples to demonstrate the principles of the various models dealt with (mainly by using the MEGAII software), which helps a lot to relate to. Unlike some other general textbooks of population genetics, this book indeed concentrate mainly on phylogenic analysis and hence it's uniqueness and advantage.
 |
Title: Phylogenetics Trees Made Easy: A How-To Manual for Molecular Biologists by Barry G. Hall ISBN: 0878933115 Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Inc. Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
 |
Title: Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach by Roderic D. M. Page, Edward C. Holmes ISBN: 0865428891 Publisher: Blackwell Science Inc Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $73.95 |
 |
Title: Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution by Dan Graur, Wen-Hsiung Li ISBN: 0878932666 Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $54.95 |
 |
Title: Inferring Phylogenies by Joseph Felsenstein ISBN: 0878931775 Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Inc. Pub. Date: 04 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $59.95 |
 |
Title: Phylogeography: The History and Formation of Species by John C. Avise ISBN: 0674666380 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $55.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
