1888 BOOK REVIEWS

2. STATISTICS IN GENETICS. M. Elizabeth Halloranand Seymour Geisser (eds), Springer, Surrey,1999. No. of pages: 260. Price: $ 53.50. ISBN0-387-98828-9

This volume contains a selection of referred pa-pers from a meeting organized by the Institute ofMathematics and its Applications (IMA) in sum-mer 1997. According to the editors’ preface, thepurpose of the meeting was to ‘bring together re-searchers who would not necessarily have attendedthe same meeting to promote productive and noveldiscussion’. As a result the subject matter of thepapers is rather broad. They are grouped into threesections under the headings of forensics, popula-tion genetics and human genetics, but even withinthese sections a great variety of topics are covered.

The forensics section is perhaps the most ho-mogenous of the three. All three papers in thissection are reasonably non-technical, and acces-sible to those with little background. Two articlesdeal with the use of DNA in criminal trials, anddescribe some of the many severe problems withthe recommendations made by the most recentreport of the National Research Council. Theproblems are clearly explained, and solutions tosome are suggested. A third article deals withthe aHects of population structure on paternitytesting.

The population genetics section includes onlyone paper that is strictly on population genetics: awide-ranging and reasonably non-technical reviewof coalescent theory and its applications. The otherarticles are an introductory review of phylogeneticanalysis methods (the study of the relationships be-tween species), and a more technical article whichtakes a phylogenetic approach to detecting linkedmutations in HIV. Although it is understandablethat these three articles were grouped together, itis perhaps a little unfortunate given that phyloge-netic methods are often applied in contexts where

population genetic models might be more appro-priate (the analysis of HIV data being a case inpoint).

The papers on human genetics are certainly themost variable in terms of technicality. There is areview of statistical methods in human genetics,which provides an introduction to the problemsof reconstructing the human genome sequence,searching for homology using the BLAST algo-rithm, and Dnding disease genes through linkageanalysis. The review seems to be aimed at math-ematicians who might be interested in gettinginvolved in genetics applications, and gives someadvice on which sorts of problems are likely tobe of interest in years to come. A rather morespecialist review describes recent biological andstatistical studies of diseases involving mutationsin mitochondrial DNA, and aims to stimulate sta-tistical research in this Deld. At the other end ofthe technical spectrum are papers proving a tri-angle inequality for sib-pair identical by descentprobabilities, and examing the eHects of popula-tion stratiDcation on the aHected-pedigree-membermethod. These seem likely to be of most interestto specialists in the Deld, and I feel unqualiDed tojudge their value. Finally there is a more generallyaccessible article on analysis of cancer genomevariation.

As a result of the enormous breadth of materialcovered, it is diIcult to imagine any individual towhom every article in this volume will appeal. Onthe other hand, there is probably something for ev-eryone who has an interest in statistical genetics,and although the quality of the writing and type-setting is a little uneven, there is certainly enoughof interest to justify a place on the library shelf.

MATTHEW STEPHENSDepartment of Statistics

1 South Park RoadOxford OX1 3TG

U.K.

3. MULTIPLE REGRESSION: A PRIMER. Paul D. Alli-son, Sage, London, 1999. No. of pages: 220. Price:$ 11.99. ISBN 0-7619-8533-6

Paul Allison has produced an appealing introduc-tory book on multiple regression analysis aimedprimarily at students in the social sciences, but alsowell suited for medical professionals with a basicknowledge of statistics. The overall impression isa very friendly book in a compendium-like layout,

which guides the reader carefully into the Deld.This has primarily been achieved by a very innova-tive organization of the book with the most essen-tial questions addressed in the early chapters andthe less important (and more mathematical) issuesrelegated to the later chapters. Thus, as opposed toconventional textbooks with their elaborate math-ematical introductions, no readers are likely to bescared oH in the beginning. Each chapter is or-ganized as a question and answer session, as in

Copyright ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Statist. Med. 2001; 20:1887–1889