From the reviews of the first edition: "The aim of this graduate-level text is to summarize mathematical concepts concerned with problems of shortest connectivity, and to demonstrate important applications of the theory, in particular in biology. ... The book contains extensive references and gives rise to many problems for further research. ... Examples are discussed in the history of evolution, taxonomy, historical linguistics and others." (Gunther Karigl, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1086, 2006)

• Two Classical Optimization Problems.- Gauss’ Question.- What Does Solution Mean?.- Network Design Problems.- A New Challenge: The Phylogeny.- An Analysis of Steiner’s Problem in Phylogenetic Spaces.- Tree Building Algorithms.