Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 2 Vol Set [Hardcover]

Douglas M. Considine (Author), Glenn D. Considine (Author), Douglas Considine (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0442018649 | ISBN-13: 978-0442018641 | Publication Date: December 1, 1994 | Edition: 1

The long-awaited revision of this internationally acclaimed resource offers thorough yet concise coverage of every major discipline of science and technology--from animal life to the biosciences, from earth and planetary sciences to medicine, and from mathematics to information science and a broad spectrum of engineering. Includes 60% updated material, with 300+ pages of new articles. 3,000 illustrations; 500 tables, charts and diagrams.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This, the seventh edition of a well-known reference work, now appears in a two-volume format. That in itself is probably incentive enough to encourage replacement of the unwieldy sixth edition, published in 1983. Since there is little doubt that most local libraries have a copy of a scientific encyclopedia, the only question is whether this new edition has kept pace with the knowledge explosion. It has. The greatest changes are exactly where one would expect to find them. There are whole new sections on computer-related topics, such as local area networks (LANs) and machine vision; similarly, developments in materials science, such as the section on semiconductors, are given expanded coverage. Perhaps the most satisfying revisions are those on planetary astronomy, which incorporate the new information garnered by the Voyager fly-bys of the outer planets. Thus, the article on Uranus has been expanded from two to six pages, enough to provide a solid introduction for a student. One drawback is that certain broad topics are difficult to find; in mathematics, for example, there was no apparent entry for either chaos, catastrophe theory, or dynamical systems. Additionally, there is almost nothing on history of science or biography of scientists. Thus, if one looks up Fermi, one finds the definition of a unit of length but no mention that it was named after a person. Similarly, there is an article entitled "Evolution," but nothing under Darwin. Nevertheless, this is probably the best scientific encyclopedia available.Harold D. Shane, Baruch Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

First published in 1938, this desktop science encyclopedia has been published in two volumes beginning with the sixth edition. It is edited by Douglas Considine and Glenn Considine. Distinguished in their respective fields of engineering and information management, they are also the editors of several other well-known technical reference books (e.g., Van Nostrand Reinhold Encyclopedia of Chemistry). Approximately 250 scientists, engineers, and educators from eight different countries contributed to this new edition.

Van Nostrand's covers the six general areas of earth and space sciences, life sciences, energy and environmental science, materials science, physics and chemistry, and mathematics and information sciences. Where appropriate, entries have an identifying tag (e.g., Bond [Chemical]). The length of entries varies from one sentence (Aeolian Tones) to 11 pages (Climate). Only the longer entries are signed by their authors and have appended reading lists. The entries appear to be current. For example, Jupiter mentions the Ulysses satellite flyby of the planet in 1992, and 13 new readings have been added to its bibliography. Telescope has been expanded from 8 to 12 pages, has several new illustrations, and its bibliography is twice as long. This entry mentions the 1993 corrections to the Hubble Space Telescope. Similarly, the coverage under Television has been expanded to include a discussion of high-definition television, with mention of developments as recent as 1994. This work does not contain any biographies. Information on symbols and mathematical conversions is found under Units and Standards.

This encyclopedia has a good history of revision. A comparison with the previous edition shows that about 200 new pages have been added to the text. There are approximately 7,300 entries, an increase of several hundred. Throughout the text are many appropriately placed black-and-white photographs, line drawings, tables, charts, and diagrams. In the past this work has been criticized for the quality of its illustrations. There are several instances in this new edition of attempts to improve the contrast and size of photographs.

The index now appears at the end of each volume so the volumes can be used independently. A sampling determined that there are approximately 12,600 index entries and more than 5,300 cross-references in the text. This dual system of cross-references and indexing is barely adequate.

The only comparable work is the McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science & Technology [RBB N 15 94]. It has 7,700 alphabetically arranged entries, 1,700 illustrations, and an outstanding index of 30,000 citations. More than 3,000 authors contributed to the work, and all articles are signed. There is a bibliography of databases and appendixes of conversion units, symbols and abbreviations, and a classification of living organisms. In addition, there is a list of important scientists. McGraw-Hill is clearly superior in illustration quality and indexing. In contrast, Van Nostrand's has almost twice the number of pages and longer entries than McGraw-Hill. Academic, public, and high-school libraries should consider Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia for their collections.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0442018649
• ISBN-13: 978-0442018641
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.8 x 6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 16.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,259,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great reference but poor value, December 3, 2002

By 

a reader (Santa Fe, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 2 Volume Set (Hardcover)

There are three classes of science & technology encyclopedias currently available. The best and most comprehensive one, by far, is the 20+ volume 15,600 page McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology-it's in a class by itself but it will cost [quite a bit]. The next class of science & tech encyclopedias are what you might call the mammoth 2-hand desktops. There are only two in this class, Von Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia and the McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. The next class of science & tech encyclopedias are the smaller 1-hand desktops of which there are many. After looking at them all and buying several, I've come to the conclusion that the two mammoth desktop encyclopedias are the most useful and the best value. The 20+ volume McGraw-Hill would certainly be nice to have, but if you're the average non-scientist college-educated layman it's too expensive (you could buy a top of the line PowerMac G4 computer for that price) for an encyclopedia whose scientific content will be obsolete in a few short years until McGraw-Hill follows Britannica and makes it available on affordable CDs or online. On the other hand, the smaller more affordable desktop 'encyclopedias' are really misnamed dictionaries given their tremendously broad scope and relatively short length, making them virtually useless (except for James Trefil's excellent Encyclopedia of Science and Technology). That leaves the two mammoth desktop encyclopedias in the middle; they're the best values: large enough to be truly useful, yet small enough to be affordable. Comparing these two qualitatively, they're both authoritative, scholarly, and top-notch. I read each of the encyclopedia's articles on data, information, and computer technology (an admittedly small sample of the enormous content of each). I found the Concise McGraw-Hill to be much more useful. The larger Von Nostrand had more information on these subjects, but it was of such a technical nature that only IT specialists with a heavy mathematics background could understand it. That's great for other professors (who probably wouldn't be consulting a desktop encyclopedia for help in their field anyway) but not very helpful to non-specialists. In other words, as a college-educated liberal arts generalist I learned more from the content of the Concise McGraw-Hill. Comparing them quantitatively in terms of their value, the Concise McGraw-Hill is also a much better value. Von Nostrand's 4192 page encyc. [is costly] while the 2318 page Concise McGraw-Hill goes for [cheaper]. For the price of Von Nostrand's you can purchase the Concise McGraw-Hill and Trefil's smaller but excellent work and still have [money] to spare. Until McGraw-Hill and/or Von Nostrand's delivers their content in more economical and accessible forms the printed Concise McGraw-Hill is the best value available (December 2002).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too many errors, September 26, 2007

By 

ScienceReader (Nederland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 2 Volume Set (Hardcover)

When I was a kid I got the 4th edition as a birthday present. In the ten years thereafter I don't remember running into many errors.

I ordered the 9th edition for the next generation last spring, and have read most of A-F myself. There are so many errors (at least one per page) in this edition that I wouldn't recommend anyone using this encyclopedia for anything serious. I do not count simple spelling/grammar errors, only things that change the fundamental meaning of a definition.

Readers interested in mathematics or physics should not rely on any mathematical expression. Simple operators like plus/minus can be mixed up, as well as symbols for variables. Often variables are not properly defined, or in some cases incorrectly defined. Readers interested in chemistry should ignore most 2D organic structures because valance and resonance are often ignored.

Every book has it faults, and encyclopedias with many authors are especially vulnerable. IMHO Editor Glenn D. Considine has not done enough "quality control" to ensure that Van Nostrand's Nine is better than, e.g., Wikipedia.

If there were only a few errors per many pages I would have gladly sent my errata to the Editor. One per page leads me to the conclusion: Do not buy this book.

(For Mathematics you're better off with the 31st Edition of the CRC Standard Math Tables, ISBN 1-58488-291-3)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Truly encyclopedic, but inconsistently updated, December 14, 2008

By 

Dr. Kenneth T. Bastin MD "calcul8tor" (brookfield, wi United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 2 Volume Set (Hardcover)

I had owned the 1982 VNE that I frequently referenced during college, saw the "updated" 2008 edition and though I could use it enough to justify the cost. I am impressed with the topic listings, enhaustive for sure, and the three volume 5000+ pages allow for some truly interesting browsing. Unfortunately, many topics simply haven't been updated since the late 80's or mid 90's. For example nuclear technology and energy are very long, but laden with old diagrams and references 20+ years old. The astronaut section is strange...listing individual listings of each class of astronauts like reading a phone book. Most pictures are old, all black and white (even Hubble space pics) and poor in quality. Still, I think the content of the written material has substance and given the pedigree of this encyclopedia I still think it is the first choice for librarians, scientists and classrooms, at least until Wikipedia has matured a bit.