This edition of the Philosophical Transactions Series contains 11 articles and an introductory chapter from the Editors. It is my perception from reading the articles that the remit given to the authors was to focus on infectious diseases of wild and domestic animals and to include some that are zoonotic. Thus major zoonotic pathogens like Escherichia coli O157: H7 and Campylobacter spp., which only quite rarely cause disease in food animals are not included.

In general, the book is an enjoyable and informative read, and is one that would be useful to veterinary and perhaps medical students. It will also provide useful background information to microbiologists and immunologists. There is also an excellent chapter on how livestock diseases impact on poverty and its alleviation. This would be a very useful read for sociologists.

The articles are written by leaders in their respective fields and this reviewer found most to be genuinely informative. Given that our climate is changing and there is an urgent need to improve global food security, the articles on 'exotic' diseases such as bluetongue, African swine fever and avian influenza were very informative.

There was very little in the book to disagree with, although in one chapter the statement was made that Norwalk virus (now called norovirus) infection was a minor disease burden to people. Given the many millions of cases that occur worldwide each year, this statement is difficult to agree with.

There is a good chapter on 'Molecular insights into farm animal and zoonotic Salmonella infections' although modesty forbids me from mentioning the authors!

This booklet would be a useful addition to personal and library collections and as background reading on a range of educational courses where animal and zoonotic diseases play a part.