From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up–These comprehensive resources cover important discoveries and definitions of basic terms and concepts, and offer short biographies of leading scientists. The alphabetical entries range in length from a line or two to over a page.
Chemistry offers more than 2000 articles on topics from ABO blood groups to zwitterionic compound. However, entries for the individual elements are not included. Four in-depth essays examine compounds, molecular modeling, crime-lab functions, and the role of chemistry in everyday life. The book concludes with a comprehensive bibliography, as well as listings of related Web sites, software sources, Nobel Laureates Relating to Chemistry, the periodic table of elements, and more. The
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Chemistry (Gale, 1997) is more thorough. However, this set delivers almost double the entries of
World of Chemistry (Gale, 2000).
Mathematics offers more than 800 entries from abacus and compound interest to Bertrand Russell and vector along with essays on the history and evolution of equations and algebra, calculus, functions, geometry, probability and statistics, and trigonometry. The appendixes include a five-page bibliography of print and Web resources as well as a listing of organizations pertaining to the field. Mathematical notations, diagrams, and captioned black-and-white reproductions and photographs appear throughout both volumes.
–Maren Ostergard, Bellevue Regional Library, WA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Intended for use by high-school and undergraduate students, this 2,000-entry encyclopedia contains a good selection of chemical terms. Some of the entries are biographical, but it is not clear how the individual names were selected. Many seem to be in fields other than chemistry, and some prominent names, such as Friedrich Beilstein and Leopold Gmelin, are not included. Entries are generally brief, most ranging from a single sentence to half of a page. Cross-references aid navigation. There are more than 150 black-and-white photographs, illustrations, and charts.
The 20-page bibliography is current to 2003. Other appended material includes a small sampling of chemistry-related Web sites, a brief listing of chemistry software sources, a list of Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, the periodic table of elements, and charts showing chemical reaction types and metals and alloys. An interesting addition is "a set of essays by today's chemists on the role chemistry plays in our daily lives, ranging from how chemistry helps solve crimes to how it provides dyes for our latest fashions." These four essays are randomly inserted throughout the book.
This would be a good encyclopedia for high-school and public libraries to round out a collection that also contains other Facts On File publications such as Encyclopedia of Biology (2004) and Encyclopedia of Physics (2004). For research-oriented users, the Van Nostrand's Encyclopedia of Chemistry, 5th edition (Wiley, 2005), would be the recommended choice. H. Robert Malinowski
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
