This book is a compilation of information and ideas by two people almost uniquely qualified to write on the topic – P. Koohafkan from the FAO in Rome and B. A. Stewart from the Dryland Research Institute in Texas, USA. It is both the result of long years of experience thinking about the topic and a distillation of discussion and interactions with scientists and other professionals grappling with the problems associated with food production in drylands. I see the book as written for people who, while focused on their day-to-day interests, occasionally need to lift their eyes to see the larger picture of the importance of agriculture to the almost one-third of the world's population living in what are, by the widest definition, drylands.

The book is assembled into five chapters dealing with defining the topic, the nature of cereal production through the practicality of ways to enhance production, placing the topic in a socio-economic context and, finally, an examination of the wider environmental issues. The authors obviously spent considerable effort assembling all the information involved. There are, in addition to the chapters, four annexes packed with definitions, data and maps. Each chapter has its own tables, figures and plates, supported by boxes containing case studies giving practical examples illustrating the lines of discussion. All these are carefully listed along with a list of acronyms and supported by a comprehensive index.

Almost 75% of the references cited are from government or agency reports that often do not appear in the scientific literature. This major assemblage of information delivers to the reader the ability to understand crop and soil science in a wider context, and as such would be well used to inform the discussion in scientific papers. It is in this way that I have already used the book.