It is timely for a book on the use of genomics for breeding legumes. Complete sequences of two legumes are available, full sets of sequences of transcribed genes are in databases for many legume crops and work from other species is showing how genomics, genetics and biodiversity can be applied to plant breeding.

Cool season grain legumes are tightly defined as five species: pea (Pisum sativum), faba bean (Vicia faba), lentil (Lens culinary) and grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) in the Vicieae (Fabeae) tribe (each given a dedicated 50-page chapter) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in the Cicereae (covered in a 35-page chapter). These well-structured chapters are contributed by experts.

I did feel an omission: A chapter discussing phylogenetic relationships in the Legume family and particularly between model species, those discussed in detail as cool season grain legumes, and their closest relatives with shared gene pools.

There are three chapters discussing -omics of legumes in general: functional genomic, comparative genomic and a short summary largely of prospects for proteomics and metabolomics (branching into systems biology), where cool season legume studies outside Medicago are minimal.

I was surprised to find little or no mention of harvest and post-harvest characters. A final chapter from most of the editors discusses future prospects about the need for research and the contribution that the cool season grain legumes can make to sustainable agriculture. There are references up to 2011, nine pages of coloured plates at the end and an 11-page index. Overall, the book will be an essential reference for anybody with interests in genomic applications in cool season legumes and certainly would be valuable reading for people entering the field or advanced students in genetics and breeding.