Milestones in Science and Technology: The Ready Reference Guide to Discoveries, Inventions, and Facts [Hardcover]

Ellis Mount (Author), Barbara A. List (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0897746716 | ISBN-13: 978-0897746717 | Publication Date: December 16, 1993 | Edition: 2 Sub

Presents the facts, history, names and dates behind 1250 major accomplishments in science and technology. Each subject is covered in 150-600 words, and may be found through any one of four indexes: personal name; chronological; geographical; and field of study.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ELLIS MOUNT, D.L.S., is president of Mount Data Services, Teaneck, New Jersey and editor of Sci-Tech News.

BARBARA A. LIST, M.L.S., is director of Science and Engineering Libraries, Columbia University, New York, New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Oryx Press; 2 Sub edition (December 16, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897746716
• ISBN-13: 978-0897746717
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,158,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too skimpy for $41, but good list of references., March 27, 1999

By 

Leo W. Early ([e-mail]) (Torrance, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Milestones in Science and Technology: The Ready Reference Guide to Discoveries, Inventions, and Facts (Hardcover)

For $41 I expected a lot more than this. I expected a fat reference book packed with information about all sorts of inventions and technologies. After all, for about twice the price you can get the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on CD-ROM. Instead, I now have a slim volume which only skims the surface, with entries for only the most well-known of developments.

For example, there is an entry for nitroglycerine but none for ordinary glycerine. There is a general entry for aromatic hydrocarbons, but nothing for such important compounds as benzene, toluene, or phenol. There is no entry for the split trail, the interrupted screw, the recoil cylinder, the brass cartridge, the armor-piercing discarding-sabot round, or even the modern artillery piece itself. There is an entry for "cannon", but it mentions nothing more recent than 1350 A.D. There are no entries for shock absorbers, springs, pistons, rivets, or riveting machines. There is an entry for welding, but none for acetylene or welding flux.

The entries themselves are very skimpy, and often enough only the name of the device, its purpose, and the date of its invention are given. There are a fair number of cases where the authors appear not to have understood what they were writing about. For example, in one case the Russian word "kamera" is translated as "camera" when it is obvious that "chamber" or "room" was meant. For another, the entry for "Stellar Distance" states that trigonometry did not work, therefore they used parallax. But parallax is a type of trigonometry.

A fair list of references is provided, and perhaps they will make it a little easier to find the information you want to know, if you have access to a large library or a lot of money to spend.

A good explanation for the strengths and weaknesses of this book is easily found by searching the Amazon.com book list for other books by Ellis Mount. There are dozens of them, all about libraries.