Well it's a book review about a specific book. So I don't see why bringing in Buddhism would be relevant in this case.
But related to this: the oldest Bible books are older than Buddhism. And they also contain references to meditation. So it is seems that meditation was already very common in the very old ages.
The topic is on what monks know about focus, so I'd say that any relevant monastic practices are relevant to the discussion, that includes Buddhist monks' practices on focus and mindfulness.
As to the second point - the Bible is older than Buddhism? What now?!? I'm surely in a different universe.
The Bible is obviously not older than Buddhism but some texts are. And they contain references to meditation.
Maybe the author could have used Buddhism as reference, but wouldn't he than have to reference Hinduism too? I mean: it seems the focus of the author was a book review.
But related to this: the oldest Bible books are older than Buddhism. And they also contain references to meditation. So it is seems that meditation was already very common in the very old ages.