This book consists of papers from the Fifth International Conference on Permutation Patterns, held in 2007. The study of permutation patterns is a branch of combinatorics that finds applications in graph theory, model theory, automata and language theory, and bioinformatics. This well-written collection of research papers by international experts in the field covers all of the significant strands of current research, including structural methods and simple patterns, generalizations of patterns, various enumerative aspects, machines, and networks.

Of special interest are the invited contributions from two leading experts: Martin Klazer (at Charles University in Prague) discusses combinatorial enumeration, and Mike Atkinson (at the University of Otago) discusses permuting machines.

I highly recommend this book to specialists and researchers in combinatorics. It should be noted that a few of the current problems in the field of permutation patterns are listed at the end of the book, which makes it a good starting point for future projects and dissertations.