Comments on: The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference http://www.wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html Fri, 07 May 2010 16:31:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: K. L Sadler http://www.wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-56 K. L Sadler Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:05:12 +0000 http://wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-56 Anyone who is in the sciences, especially the biological sciences, know that the information being discovered it growing at an exponential rate. This makes it incredibly difficult to write a textbook for science, since one way or another, you are going to miss recent knowledge which may not be widely available yet. It is also difficult to decide what science is important to learn. This is one of the major problems in developing science educational standards that all students between K-12th grade should be expected to learn. I am inclined to think that purchasing references books such as this fine example, would almost be preferable to buying textbooks that will be out of date within six months. A reference manual such as this is not intended to be used for reading straight through to gain information on one particular science. Rather it acts as a basic foundation from which to springboard science knowledge. The concept of recommending current reference books, distributing science journal papers and using the vast amount of science knowledge now available on the web is an idea that has been used at the college level for several years. It is now a good idea to extend this practice to the junior high and high school level, rather than attempting to cram textbooks full of scientific information which may or may not be valid and useful to students by the time they complete the class. <p>My main objections to this reference book are two. First, for most deaf students (and for nondisabled students too) reseach has demonstrated that the more visual information given in terms of pictures, graphics, photographs, mathematical equations, etc., the more likely students will remember science. This book could definitely use more pictures and graphics, and it could definitely use color for enhancing learning. This particular reference would be great for on-line, especially if the New York Public Library was willing (or Macmillan) to keep it up-to-date...pictures, graphics, and photographs could easily be scanned to make the information more potent to the learner. The other objection is the placement of a large field of study, Neuroscience, in the biology section and it is given barely a nod, when it is as vital to our understanding as genetics is. Even though Neuroscience is considered to be a rather new field, its impact on medicine and behavioral sciences is too large to be dismissed. Perhaps the publishers will rectify this error the next time around.<p>Otherwise, I find this to be an excellent resource, both for me and for those I teach. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh Rating: 4 / 5 Anyone who is in the sciences, especially the biological sciences, know that the information being discovered it growing at an exponential rate. This makes it incredibly difficult to write a textbook for science, since one way or another, you are going to miss recent knowledge which may not be widely available yet. It is also difficult to decide what science is important to learn. This is one of the major problems in developing science educational standards that all students between K-12th grade should be expected to learn. I am inclined to think that purchasing references books such as this fine example, would almost be preferable to buying textbooks that will be out of date within six months. A reference manual such as this is not intended to be used for reading straight through to gain information on one particular science. Rather it acts as a basic foundation from which to springboard science knowledge. The concept of recommending current reference books, distributing science journal papers and using the vast amount of science knowledge now available on the web is an idea that has been used at the college level for several years. It is now a good idea to extend this practice to the junior high and high school level, rather than attempting to cram textbooks full of scientific information which may or may not be valid and useful to students by the time they complete the class.

My main objections to this reference book are two. First, for most deaf students (and for nondisabled students too) reseach has demonstrated that the more visual information given in terms of pictures, graphics, photographs, mathematical equations, etc., the more likely students will remember science. This book could definitely use more pictures and graphics, and it could definitely use color for enhancing learning. This particular reference would be great for on-line, especially if the New York Public Library was willing (or Macmillan) to keep it up-to-date…pictures, graphics, and photographs could easily be scanned to make the information more potent to the learner. The other objection is the placement of a large field of study, Neuroscience, in the biology section and it is given barely a nod, when it is as vital to our understanding as genetics is. Even though Neuroscience is considered to be a rather new field, its impact on medicine and behavioral sciences is too large to be dismissed. Perhaps the publishers will rectify this error the next time around.

Otherwise, I find this to be an excellent resource, both for me and for those I teach. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh
Rating: 4 / 5

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-55 Anonymous Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:04:53 +0000 http://wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-55 This is a terrific book. Practically every other sentence is a statistic! I love the big list of discoveries and inventions, which dates back to the discovery of fire!<br>I love the huge section on computer science, amazing book! worth ten times the price! Rating: 5 / 5 This is a terrific book. Practically every other sentence is a statistic! I love the big list of discoveries and inventions, which dates back to the discovery of fire!
I love the huge section on computer science, amazing book! worth ten times the price!
Rating: 5 / 5

]]> By: Phil Libin http://www.wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-54 Phil Libin Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:08:24 +0000 http://wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-54 ...and fun to flip through. And the section on computer science has a handy ASCII chart. Really, isn't getting this sort of spotty, high-level and often outdated scientific information exactly what the Internet is good for? (Do you know that the Internet "has now grown to possibly 2 million host computers all over the world?" - The NYPLSDR does.) If you think a random, off-line, walk through the science tree sounds like fun, get this book. I do and i did and i'm satisfied. Rating: 4 / 5 …and fun to flip through. And the section on computer science has a handy ASCII chart. Really, isn’t getting this sort of spotty, high-level and often outdated scientific information exactly what the Internet is good for? (Do you know that the Internet “has now grown to possibly 2 million host computers all over the world?” – The NYPLSDR does.) If you think a random, off-line, walk through the science tree sounds like fun, get this book. I do and i did and i’m satisfied.
Rating: 4 / 5

]]> By: JAMES D MEANS http://www.wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-53 JAMES D MEANS Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:40:04 +0000 http://wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-53 While I love the concept of this book, my personal experience was that I flipped, more or less randomly, to four different pages and found errors on EVERY page. Perhaps that was just rotten luck, but it makes me suspicious of all the answers in the book. I think you'd be better off looking at a reference that's written by experts, rather than generalists. Buy a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM. Rating: 2 / 5 While I love the concept of this book, my personal experience was that I flipped, more or less randomly, to four different pages and found errors on EVERY page. Perhaps that was just rotten luck, but it makes me suspicious of all the answers in the book. I think you’d be better off looking at a reference that’s written by experts, rather than generalists. Buy a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM.
Rating: 2 / 5

]]> By: Clifford Slocombe http://www.wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-52 Clifford Slocombe Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:11:58 +0000 http://wlbpl.org/28-the-new-york-public-library-science-desk-reference.html#comment-52 The book lost immediatly credibility for me when the first thing I looked up contained a serious factual error. The biographical entry for Alan Turing in the Computing section states that he was American, whereas he was in fact British.<p>Even if this were the only error in the whole book, how can you trust a book that so immediatly shows itself to be flawed. Rating: 1 / 5 The book lost immediatly credibility for me when the first thing I looked up contained a serious factual error. The biographical entry for Alan Turing in the Computing section states that he was American, whereas he was in fact British.

Even if this were the only error in the whole book, how can you trust a book that so immediatly shows itself to be flawed.
Rating: 1 / 5

]]>