McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
This dictionary, last published in 1989, continues to provide clear, concise definitions for the educated general public. The fifth edition has 2,194 pages (57 more than the fourth), 105,100 terms (5,000 more than the fourth), and 3,000 black-and-white photographs (the same as the fourth). It is arranged alphabetically letter by letter, lies flat when open, and is a heavy volume that may present problems in retrieving from the shelf. There are no major changes in the format of this edition.With the publication of theAcademic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology[RBB Ja 15 93], a comparison is in order. The biggest difference is the lack of pronunciation inAcademic, a definite advantage forMcGraw-Hill, when the general public encounters so many science and technology terms in print media today. A minor disadvantage is thatMcGraw-Hillrefers the user from an acronym to the spelled-out form, whileAcademicgives the definition under the acronym if it is well recognized. Definitions vary from one dictionary to the other.AIDSis better defined inAcademic, giving indications of how it is transmitted, whilechugging, an aeronautical term, is more expanded inMcGraw-Hill. Biographical sketches are in the dictionary portion ofAcademicbut in a separate appendix inMcGraw-Hill. Both dictionaries indicate the field with which the term is associated. OnlyAcademichas entries for "combining forms" or prefixes used to build many words.The size of both dictionaries is comparable. However, in comparing entries, each dictionary has unique terms. Since both are similar,McGraw-Hillhas the advantage of being three years newer.McGraw-Hillis the only one to be thumb-indexed. It also has a diskette included with the book that includes a subset of the entries, those for basic technical terms. It can be installed on the hard drive of computers running WordPerfect or several other popular software programs.For libraries that need as much coverage as possible of science and technology terminology, both dictionaries are highly recommended because of the unique terms found in each. High-school libraries will tend to have theMcGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, so theMcGraw-Hill Dictionarywould be favored as a companion.