Customer Reviews

Elsevier's Dictionary of Soil Science: Definitions in English with French, German, and Spanish word translations

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This general purpose dictionary of soil science has 9188 terms, each with a definition in English (British spelling) and terms translated in French, German, and Spanish. An index of terms in each of these latter three languages is included. With the expansion of international collaboration in the soil sciences, this feature alone makes the dictionary a valuable reference book. The acid-free paper is high quality and the type setting is easy to read, making it an attractive volume for the tactile reader, who may enjoy flipping through its pages. There seems to remain a need for hardcopy reference material even in our electronic age, when one might argue that online access is more efficient and cost effective.

The authors' scope is "all fields of soil science and some related fields of science ... perhaps included too many terms of the related fields ..." It covers 26 subject areas, and the authors note some difficulties with uniformity of terminology. I was generally satisfied with the scope and accuracy of definitions offered. However, the reader is bound to find errors. It also includes six "Annexes" or appendices with information such as soil taxonomy.

I expect to refer to this dictionary regularly in my personal library, even if primarily to find its multilingual translations of soil-related terms. Others may debate the cost/benefit of purchasing such a volume and decide to wait for Elsevier to publish an online version with hyperlinked text.

For the full review, see:

Green, T.R., 2008. Book review: Elsevier's Dictionary of Soil Science, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 72(3):861.