Kenneth Wachter is Professor of Demography and Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Former chair of the Committee on Population of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, his work spans the range of mathematical demography and biodemography. Books include "Height, Health, and History" and "Between Zeus and the Salmon". Hervé Le Bras holds appointments at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences and the National Institute for Demographic Studies in Paris. Along with contributions to mathematical demography and historical sociology, he is known for books such as "L'invention de la France", "Marianne et les lapins", "La planète au village", and "The Nature of Demography".

"This revised edition collates papers on mathematical demography that date back from Roman times to the late twentieth century. ... This collection is a piece of history and is comprised of crucial source material equally for researchers, graduate students and practitioners. ... Those looking to study mathematics and science related fields would greatly benefit from reading this text." (S. E. Ahmed, Technometrics, Vol. 57 (1), February, 2015)

• The Life Table.- Stable Population Theory.- Attempts at Prediction and the Theory They Stimulated.- Parameterization and Curve Fitting.- Probability Models of Conception and Births.- Bibliography.- Additional Bibliographic References.