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With clear, concise definitions of over 11,000 terms, this dictionary is the ideal reference for specialists and nonspecialists alike: students, teachers, scientists, amateur naturalists, and anyone interested in our natural environment.
A new compilation that reflects the growing and changing vocabulary of science, the dictionary draws entries from many scientific disciplines, as well as from taxonomy. It includes terms from ecology, statistics, earth sciences, genetics, biochemistry, and physiology that readers are likely to encounter in literature dealing with plant and animal growth, structure, or behavior. At the same time, the dictionary will serve those in other disciplines who encounter unfamiliar taxonomic terms in their reading and research.
Written by an international team of twenty specialists, and with the aid of a distinguished advisory board, the dictionary provides world-wide coverage. Line drawings are included to clarify meanings where needed, and cross-references refer readers from particular species to entries on families and major genera. The only one-volume work to provide extensive coverage of all aspects of natural history, this is an essential new reference source.

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CHOICE Review

This dictionary will clearly help us to better understand our natural world, and will make it possible for us to communicate that understanding to others. The three disciplines that traditionally make up the world of natural history (botany, zoology, and geology) are well represented and all continents are covered. The atmospheric sciences are included as well. Definitions are clear and concise, without being too terse, and are written in full and complete sentences. Plants and animals, which constitute a major portion of this work, are described under their scientific names. Common names are cross-referenced to the main entry. The editor, Michael Allaby, compiled a similar work, titled A Dictionary of the Environment (2nd ed. 1983) that has proved to be most useful for terms dealing with the environment. Again, Allaby and more than 50 contributing experts in various scientific fields have produced an equally impressive work for the study of natural history. Sir David Attenborough, in his foreword, comments that he knows of no other dictionary that is so ``up-to-date and comprehensive'' as this. Every public, college, and university library will want to acquire this important work.-R.G. Sabin, Auburn University

Booklist Review

According to the editor, a science writer, The Oxford Dictionary of Natural History is intended for students and amateur naturalists. The dictionary contains more than 12,000 entries written by a team of more than 25 specialists and consultants, mostly from Great Britain. The dictionary's primary emphasis is on the scientific names of plants and animals worldwide. The majority of family names are included as well as genus and species names for representative animals and plants of particular interest. Common names are given in parentheses. Cross-references are also made from these common names to the appropriate scientific names and descriptions. These descriptions include identifying characteristics as well as information on a plant or animal's geographic distribution. The book lacks illustrations, which would make some of the definitions clearer. Also included as entries in the dictionary are terms dealing with characteristics of plants and animals, as well as terms from botany and zoology and from related areas such as ecology, statistics, earth sciences, atmospheric sciences, biochemistry, and genetics. British spellings are used throughout although cross-references from American spellings are made (e.g., estrogen to oestrogen). As much of the information in this book is available elsewhere, libraries should determine if they require this dictionary as an additional resource. If so, The Oxford Dictionary of Natural History will be useful in public, high school, and college libraries for the educated layperson needing definitions when identifying plants and animals and for brief descriptions of scientific names.