Surely any book with a picture of an explosion on the cover has to be worth browsing? In this respect Bioenergy does not disappoint. The editors have sought to identify and summarize the areas in which microbiology could play a part in producing renewable energy. The text is made up of 31 reviews written by researchers active in these areas and provides an excellent condensed summary of each area and the current state-of-the-art for each subject. Due to the style of presentation, there is inevitably some overlap in the content of different chapters, and some conflicting opinions or interpretations of recent results. Bioenergy provides an excellent primer for students or researchers new to this exciting area. The picture of the recreation of the Volta experiment on the front of the book means that anyone with an interest in microbial alternative energy production should consider obtaining a copy.