Apollo 13. Big bang theory. Comet Hyakutake. White Dwarf Stars. When studying complex scientific concepts, your students need a resource written in terms they will understand — your students need U·X·L's Astronomy & Space. Out-of-this-world features include:
- Approximately 300 entries — each ranging from one to nine pages
- Approximately 240 illustrations
- Sidebars that expand on areas of high interest to students
- A historical timeline of famous astronomers, events and discoveries
The only science-related subject more interesting to young adults than space is dinosaurs, so this set should be a very popular addition to school libraries at all levels. From the big bang (the theoretical beginning of time) to the big crunch (theoretically, the end), the three volumes of this encyclopedia cover most of the people, events, and ideas relevant to the study of astronomy and space that a science curriculum teaches.
Each volume begins with the table of contents for the whole set, listing each entry. Each has a reader's guide, a timeline, and a glossary (words to know). A bibliography is repeated following the body of each volume, divided into books, articles, and a list of Web sites.
The index is quite complete and easy to use, with references to both the volume and page numbers and with boldface type indicating main articles or illustrations. The 300 articles are in alphabetical order and are from one to five pages in length. Most are illustrated with black-and-white photographs or drawings. A few contain gray boxes with enrichment activities, including viewing the movie Lamp at Midnight on the life of Galileo, arrranging a tour to the Wyoming Infrared Observatory, and hosting a shooting-star party during the next meteor shower.
Articles are evenly balanced between biographies, concepts, events, and objects. The biographies balance gender, ethnic groups, nationality, and history. Each biography has a picture. The information is current to Shannon Lucid's return from the Mir space station but does not cover Carl Sagan's death. The articles are written to be understood by students from fifth grade up.
Some great features include explanations of why names were used for space projects. The space probe Giotto was so named because the painter included what may have been Halley's comet in his Adoration of the Magi; the space station Mir gets its name from the Russian word for peace. Oddly, those names that come from Greek or Roman mythology, such as Apollo and Gemini, are often left unexplained. There are cross-references in the text in boldface, as well as see also references at the end of most articles. Measurements are given in American standards, with metric equivalents in parentheses. The extensive list of Web sites given in the bibliography is a timely feature that should be a hit with teachers and students alike.
On the critical side, there are no pronunciations given, which is unfortunate (is Halley pronounced with a long a or short?). It would be helpful to at least have pronunciations for the more difficult or foreign terms. A few glaring errors were found in the text. On page 1, astronomical unit is defined as "thirty-nine times the distance from the earth to the sun." (A more accurate definition, accessible through the index, is provided in the article on the astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini.) Twice, Neil Armstrong is misquoted as saying, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." The set does not address the theory of creationism either in a separate article or in the context of the big bang theory. Many faithful and scientific people do not see them as mutually exclusive. Christa McAuliffe should have had her own entry, and all the astronauts who died in the Challenger accident should have been named in that article.
The great things about this encyclopedia far outweigh the mistakes mentioned above. The new, more scholarly History of Astronomy [RBB Ap 15 97] covers many of the same subjects in much greater depth but does not include space exploration and is intended for a different audience. The wonderfully affordable Astronomy and Space belongs in most school and public libraries. Larger public libraries may want to consider putting sets in both the adult and youth departments.
