Reading

• David Hey’s article in History Today 2001, Vol 51 (7), is a good place to start. This is a lucid, succinct article which will set the perspective. (Alas, the full online article is now pay-per-view.)
• Flavia Hodges’s radio talk on Genealogy, Genes and Geography is a broader summary.
• Also, David Hey’s background notes to the BBC Radio4 series Surnames, Genes and Genealogy.

This may be supplemented by the following books:

• John Titford Searching for surnames
• David Hey Family Names and Family History

and then:

• Colin Rogers The surname detective
• George Redmonds Surnames and Genealogy

The Writers page attempts to give a flavour of the history of different approaches.
If all this enthuses you, then this site’s Bibliography section has masses of further suggestions.