- Paperback: 688 pages
- Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.; 1 edition (Sep 25 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0028604032
- ISBN-13: 978-0028604039
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 18.8 x 4.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 794 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #958,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Considering this volume is a mere 668 pages, it does a remarkable job of covering the major concepts and facts of biology, human anatomy, chemistry, physics, astronomy, Earth sciences, meteorology, environmental sciences, and engineering. Not surprising, as it was written by the New York Public Library staff who know what questions are most frequently asked by a knowledge-hungry public.
The ultimate test of such a reference volume is scrutiny of areas with which one is intimately familiar, then reading up on areas about which one is woefully ignorant. This book passed both tests: The biology chapter was sound (though I wanted much more information about evolutionary principles), and the section on particle physics was informative. Even if you already have a collection of several thousand books covering most of the sciences (like myself), this is a handy reference. And if you're a student or want access to a lot of scientific knowledge in the smallest possible non-digital package, this resource is essential for those times when you simply can't get to the library.
From Library Journal
From formulas to the periodic table of the elements, from a list of endangered animals to computer terminology, this is an excellent sourcebook of scientific information. You could not find a more comprehensive and readable desk-sized one-volume science encyclopedia. Thirteen chapters cover major divisions of science (e.g., astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer and environmental sciences, technology) listing basic facts, formulas, terms, and processes. One additional chapter lists "useful resources" such as books, organizations, museums, zoos, national parks, and planetariums. This is more of a reference book than the Carnegie Library's Science and Technology Desk Reference (LJ 3/15/93), which contains "1500 answers to frequently asked questions" such as which dog breeds are the most dangerous. Clearly written and well indexed, this will be an excellent reference book for all school and public libraries. Highly recommended for all ages.?Laura E. Lipton, Ctr. for Urban Horticulture, Seattle
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Untrustworthy,
By
This review is from: The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference (Paperback)
The book lost immediatly credibility for me when the first thing I looked up contained a serious factual error. The biographical entry for Alan Turing in the Computing section states that he was American, whereas he was in fact British.Even if this were the only error in the whole book, how can you trust a book that so immediatly shows itself to be flawed.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't believe everything you read,
By
This review is from: The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference (Paperback)
While I love the concept of this book, my personal experience was that I flipped, more or less randomly, to four different pages and found errors on EVERY page. Perhaps that was just rotten luck, but it makes me suspicious of all the answers in the book. I think you'd be better off looking at a reference that's written by experts, rather than generalists. Buy a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well, it's big...,
By
This review is from: The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference (Paperback)
...and fun to flip through. And the section on computer science has a handy ASCII chart. Really, isn't getting this sort of spotty, high-level and often outdated scientific information exactly what the Internet is good for? (Do you know that the Internet "has now grown to possibly 2 million host computers all over the world?" - The NYPLSDR does.) If you think a random, off-line, walk through the science tree sounds like fun, get this book. I do and i did and i'm satisfied.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
