McGraw-Hill derives these inexpensive subject-specific dictionaries from its Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, covering 110,000 terms. Libraries could not go wrong purchasing this recognized standard reference--either the parent or its offspring. Choosing which to purchase will probably present the greater challenge. Students may be more likely to favor these more focused titles, whereas librarians may be more enthralled with the larger, more encompassing mother work. ...The offspring reproduce the definitions of terms exactly as they appear in the mother work, with pronunciation but without illustrations. The appropriate appendixes are retained in the smaller volumes, but biographical entries are dropped.
McGraw-Hill tends to include more appendixes [than competition], such as geological time scales and electronic symbols...libraries will be well served by the McGraw-Hill titles. Summing Up: Highly recommended..