Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics (4 Volume Set)

Offers clear explanations of the basic concepts, history, philosophy, fundamental theories and laws of physics, as well as biographical entries featuring physicists who have contributed to our knowledge of the physical world. The set will be useful for physics students from high school through graduate school and for general readers exploring the mysteries of everyday life, such as what causes earthquakes? How do CAT Scans work? or How do clouds form? Articles are arranged in alphabetical order and include cross-references and bibliographic references as recent as 1996. Volume one contains a Reader's Guide which identifies some key entries in the encyclopedia's plan. A table of symbols and abbreviations is included at the beginning of each volume to assist readers unfamiliar with any mathematical or scientific notation that might arise. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Offering 920 articles and 550 illustrations, plus a 40-page index listing entries, illustrations, and See Also references, this work is aimed at a broad range of readers and hence includes a diverse array of topics. Editor in Chief Rigden, who has worked on numerous projects involving the teaching of science, is with the American Institute of Physics, and many of the contributors are well-known scientists. Entries range from the expected (quantum mechanics, quarks) to the unusual (n rays, Nobel prizes). Also included are biographies of select physicists, no longer alive, who have made seminal contributions. An effort has been made to keep the language simple and understandable to lay readers, and most entries at least start that way before getting technical as the subject demands. There is also a reader's guide, which organizes key entries into useful categories. This excellent encyclopedia is recommended for libraries seeking to serve a broad clientele.?Jayashri Nagaraja, Princeton Univ. Lib., N.J.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Physics is a comprehensive reference source covering all of the subdisciplines of the field of physics. In approximately 1,000 articles, it discusses concepts and important people from throughout the history of the field. From classical mechanics to particle physics and from sound waves to space travel, this work provides the reader with basic concepts and applications of each topic. Entries are written for the general adult reader and try to avoid the higher-level mathematics inherent to the discipline. However, the reader will still need to have a good background in calculus to fully understand most entries. Each of the signed entries is written by a specialist selected from a team of international physicists.

Entries range in length from a few paragraphs to dozens of pages, depending on the specificity of the topic. All entries contain bibliographies that refer readers to additional sources of the same reading level as the encyclopedia. An index and glossary are included as appendixes.

The last multivolume encyclopedia of physics to be published was Thewlis' Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Physics (Pergamon, 1962). Thewlis' work remains a standard reference for the field, although it has become somewhat outdated (the last supplement was published in 1975). The Macmillan set will serve to update Thewlis. It will also serve a slightly different audience, as Thewlis is written primarily for specialists in the field ,and the Macmillan Encyclopedia is aimed at a more general readership.

The Macmillan Encyclopedia will also serve as a complement to two recent physics encyclopedias, both now in their second editions: Lerner's Encyclopedia of Physics, [RBB Ag 91],and the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Physics (McGraw-Hill, 1993). Each of these one-volume works contains approximately the same number of entries as the Macmillan Encyclopedia, and each is written for a similar audience. Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, and Lerner are all similar in format, style, and content. Libraries will need to determine the amount of physics reference information that they need to offer their users. Science libraries will want to obtain all three of these sources, whereas general reference collections will need to provide only one physics encyclopedia.