This edited volume is undoubtedly one of Oxford University Press's flagship publications in the broad area of applied linguistics and second language studies. Edited by one of the best known scholars in the field—Robert Kaplan—with help from three equally distinguished colleagues—William Grabe, Merrill Swain, and Richard Tucker—the book contains 39 chapters written by leading international experts in their particular domains. Thus, it is a kind of “all-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-applied-linguistics” venture, and my overall conclusion is that the book successfully delivers what it promises: It is a collection of serious scholarly articles covering all of the key aspects of applied linguistics, with a good mix of classic topics and novel, forward-pointing concepts.

At this point it is almost obligatory to raise the less-than-straightforward issue of what exactly the discipline applied linguistics subsumes. It is reassuring to find that the editor was well aware of the complexity of this matter and summarized his position in this regard as follows:

The 39 chapters are divided into 12 parts and a conclusion. The themes of these parts cover a broad range, from the “Four Language Skills” to “Technological Applications.” As with so many successful anthologies, the structure is robust and slightly conservative, which ensures that the majority of readers will easily find their way around after only a few minutes. As Kaplan himself also points out in the preface, a book of this type will be judged not only on what it includes but also on what it excludes. He lists three main omissions: work with the deaf, teacher education, and corpus development. Even though—depending on one's research interest—everyone is likely to be able to point out areas that are perhaps underrepresented, there is no question that the editor and the editorial advisory board have done a good job in achieving an authoritative and balanced overview.

It should be clear from the previous comments that I consider this volume a particularly valuable book, one that simply cannot be absent from any public or personal library with an applied linguistic focus. It offers something for everybody: University students will find relatively brief overviews that are so helpful when one is getting acquainted with a new field. Established researchers will be pleased to read authoritative summaries of the thinking of some of the major scholars in the field. The book is even suitable for language teaching practitioners because the chapters cover a generous selection of classroom-related issues such as the discussions of the four language skills, curriculum design, as well as communicative, task-based, and content-based language instruction.

Seasoned readers of book reviews will know that the inevitable “But …” has to come at some point because the reviewer's task also includes the highlighting of possible weaknesses. Although it is not easy to find any chips in the armor here, one point that I would like to raise (particularly because of my personal research interest) is that learner characteristics are somewhat underrepresented: For example, learning styles are discussed in hardly more than a page, learning strategies are given even less space, and—what is rather surprising—language aptitude is not covered at all. On the other hand, I was pleased to find several chapters offering detailed discussions of various psycholinguistic and cognitive processes, evidence that the editor really meant what he said in the preface, namely that applied linguistics is more than linguistics applied.

In sum, I believe that this volume will soon become (if it has not already done so) a favorite of module convenors when they design the reading lists of various survey courses in the field—the length, depth, and diversity of the chapters lend themselves to be included in these. The convenors' only concern will be that the individual chapters do not contain their own bibliography sections because all of the references have been pooled at the end of the volume to give a “sense of the scope of the field, of the key players, and of the disciplinary history … as well as an extensive reference list to much current literature” (p. x). Although this goal might have been achieved, the composite reference list will make using individual chapters for various teaching purposes difficult. Although personally I would recommend that everyone buy their own copy of the book, its price could make this a somewhat unrealistic expectation. Yet, if you decide to purchase only one work to provide a concise overview of applied linguistics and a detailed reference book, this volume should definitely be a serious contender.