Facts on File Marine Science Handbook

Alphabetically defines marine science terminology, collects brief biographies of noted scientists in the field, and offers a chronology of historical discoveries.

With these titles, Facts On File continues its Science and Math Handbooks series designed to give both beginning and advanced students "quick, direct answers to basic science and math questions." Each consists of four major sections: glossary; biographies; chronology; and charts and tables. There are also appendixes in each, as well as good black-and-white illustrations and photographs. Geometry covers Euclidian and non-Euclidian geometries including projective geometry, affine geometry, vector spaces, knot theory, and topology. Marine Science covers everything having to do with the sea, including navigation, exploration, weather, geology, and creatures.

The glossaries are extensive although not exhaustive. The definitions are clear and easy to understand. The brief biographies are balanced in terms of gender, ethnicity, and specialization. Some have portraits. Charts and tables are well chosen, offering a wide variety of information. Especially helpful are the prefix and suffix charts in Marine Science and the constants, abbreviations, and symbols in Geometry. The recommended reading list in Geometry is more extensive than that in Marine Science and includes Internet sites, multimedia, and teaching resources as well as books at both the introductory and advanced level. The indexes are just adequate and in extremely small print, but the cross-references in the body help make up for that. In every section there are guide words at the top and bottom of each page that include first and last terms on that page.

Some definitions in Geometry Handbook are either too simplistic, too difficult, or confusing. The term amplitude is not defined. The reader is referred to two other terms, but neither definition uses the word amplitude or explains the referral to the term. There are some errors, including phrase duplications at page breaks. Pronunciation guides would have been a good addition.

Both of these handbooks will be useful to teachers. Students will find the Marine Science handbook more accessible than Geometry. Recommended for academic, public, and some high-school libraries. RBB
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