In the 21st century, declining precious natural resources will continue to be political and cultural hot points, and no element is more important to life on our planet than water. This full-color set encompasses topics in three broad subject areas: policy and management; oceans; and fresh water. With approximately 425 color illustrations, this exciting new resource covers all important water science concepts and current issues and highlights major historical developments and key figures.
Ben Franklin observed in
Poor Richard's Almanac that "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." This encyclopedia is an effort to educate users about water's worth before the well runs dry. With more than 300 topical entries, it is a good starting place for anyone desiring to learn about a wide array of topics surrounding the nature, sources, use, desecration, and protection of this most valuable resource.
Acid rain, Bottled water, Careers in oceanography, Hoover Dam, Leonardo da Vinci, Plankton, Salmon decline and recovery, and
Wetlands are examples of entries and help illustrate the set's range.
The topical outline at the beginning of all volumes groups entries into 28 categories such as "Agriculture," "Aquatic Animals," "Biographies," "Using Water," and "Weather and Climate." The outline also lists the 17 "Selected Sidebars Topics," although, without page numbers, these are hard to locate in the text. Also at the beginning of each volume are several tables: metric conversions; symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms; and geologic eras, periods and epochs. Entries range in length from 500 to 2,500 words and include short bibliographies of print and electronic sources. Pages have wide margins, which contain picture captions, definitions of key terms, and boxes of important facts and explanations (e.g., "Tsunamis Are Not Tidal Waves"). Photographs, illustrations, and tables are attractive and add meaning to the text. Each volume concludes with the 36-page, detailed cumulative index and the 60-page glossary. The glossary is, in itself, a useful reference tool with clear "plain English" definitions of terms like 100-year flood, one that has a 1 percent chance of happening in a given year, and senior appropriator, the holder of the highest or oldest water right.
The scientific and social aspects of water are well introduced in this set, which is recommended for high-school, public, and undergraduate libraries. It is more comprehensive and more useful for student reports than Greenwood's Encyclopedia of Water [RBB S 15 03], although that volume has entries for water's philosophical, mystical, metaphorical, and symbolic roles, which Water: Science and Issues does not treat. RBB
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