The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia

Gr 5–7—Aside from minor editorial tweaks and small quantities of new material—references to the end of the space shuttle program, for instance, and to Japan's 2011 earthquake and damaged Fukushima reactor-this update of the 2006 second edition remains largely unchanged. As in the earlier work, the sciences are divided into 10 topical chapters ranging from "Space and Time" to "Conservation and the Environment." Within the chapters, two- to three-dozen selected subjects are given a spread each of concise exposition and generally informative, sharply reproduced photos and schematic diagrams. Each chapter closes with a crowded page of summary facts, and a final section of back matter contains thumbnail portraits of famous scientists and inventions, formulas for calculating the areas of geometric figures, conversion tables, and like features. There is at least one obvious typo ("Two million people worldwide now access the Internet") and a brash claim that humans are "the most successful of all creatures." Examples of unsystematic coverage and updating include no discussions at all of quarks, quantum theory, streaming video, smartphones, cloud computing, corporate space programs, element 117 (isolated in 2010), or plasma as a fourth "state" of matter. Furthermore, though frequent cross references and a large index facilitate access to most of the content, the index includes only spotty coverage of the illustrations and fails to list the earthquake and reactor mentioned above. At best, a marginal candidate for classrooms with limited or no access to web resources, or to replace a worn copy of the previous edition.—John Peters, formerly at New York Public Library