Grade 8 Up–Incorporating and expanding on entries from such earlier works as his Facts On File Space and Astronomy Handbook (2002), Angelo presents a wide-angled survey that not only encompasses the nature, study, and exploration of outer space, but also delves into a huge array of related topics, from the Tomahawk missile and Columbia accident to climate change and quarks. Alphabetically arranged into more than 3000 articles that run from single sentences to several double-columned pages, this resource is both comprehensive and easy to use, and nearly every entry closes with several cross-references. The volume is enhanced by a detailed index and 15 thought pieces on such topics as the physical hazards of space travel, the possible consequences of interstellar contact, and the demonstrated uses of satellites in peace and war. Though neither the occasional, murky black-and-white photographs nor the appendixes, which are chock-full of useful and unusual information, are picked up in the index, and some entries are less than enlightening (Enthalpy, for instance, includes no actual definition of the term), this will be a valuable addition to any smaller collection serving serious students, whether they're researching Galileo or the Galilean satellites, such recent trans-Plutonian discoveries as Sedna and Quaoar, or, for that matter, Walt Disney's influence on the space race.–John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Space, the final frontier, has piqued the imagination of people for millennia. Written by the author of several other books on space and astronomy at a level accessible to the general reader, this one-volume encyclopedia provides current, authoritative information. The approximately 3,000 alphabetically arranged entries range in length from a single sentence to several pages. Sample entries include Alvarez, Luis Walter; Apollo Project; Astrochimp(s); Big bang (theory); Collins, Eileen Marie; Copernicus, Nicholas; Cosmology; Extraterrestrial civilizations; National Solar Observatory; Radio astronomy; Robotics in space; Rocketry; Sun; Unidentified flying object (UFO); and Voyager spacecraft. Fifteen special essays cover topics beyond the nuts and bolts. We learn that, just like the poets have proclaimed, we really are made of stardust; Walt Disney popularized the idea of space travel; satellites function as switchboards in the sky; and people of the Earth have unintentionally been leaking radio frequency signals into the galaxy since the middle of the twentieth century.
Appendixes include a bibliography of print resources, an extensive listing of Web sites, a lengthy chronology of significant events in space and astronomy, a table of basic planetary data, and a 13-page table on how planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and other celestial objects are named. A well-constructed index provides subject access to the contents. About 200 black-and-white line illustrations and photographs supplement the text.
This work provides more in-depth coverage of topics than the Firefly Encyclopedia of Astronomy (2004), although the Firefly volume uses color illustrations and photographs to supplement the text and therefore has more visual appeal. The four-volume Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Institute of Physics, 2001), written for an academic and professional audience, is a far more comprehensive (and therefore more expensive) set and is particularly suited for academic and large public libraries. The Facts On File encyclopedia is recommended for libraries in need of a general encyclopedia on space and astronomy. Nancy Cannon
All Comments