Microbiologists from across Europe review the systems-science research that is beginning to be conducted on microbes in the soil. Their topics include functional genomics analysis of key bacterial traits involved in rhizosphere competence during microbial-host interactions, screening phylogenetic and functional marker genes in soil microbial ecology, soil metatranscriptomics, soil volatile organic compounds as tracers for microbial activities in soils, and classical techniques versus omics approaches. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation 2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)