Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather

The first edition of this title was well reviewed and became an LJ Best Reference of 1996 selection. The competition is improving, however, and this second edition was not reconceptualized. There are new entries—e.g., "Equity and Distribution" and "Tradable Permits"—and the editors include more social and policy dimension articles. However, most of the older entries among the 330-plus have been given only a new paragraph or a few sentences. The alphabetical entries are written at a college level, predominantly by experts in the field. The bibliographies are updated but not completely, and there are few website references. Illustrations are informative but monochromatic. Nobel laureate Schneider (interdisciplinary environmental studies, Stanford Univ.) died during final preparation; the work was completed by his colleagues Michael D. Mastrandrea and Root (both, Stanford Univ. Woods Inst. for the Environment). BOTTOM LINE Although these volumes are a serious, complete treatment, examining them makes clear how much the presentation of reference books has changed in recent years. Compare the graphical explanation in The Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate Change: A Complete Visual Guide (Univ. of California, 2010) or the 540 short essays and many embellishments in Steven Dutch's Encyclopedia of Global Warming (Salem, 2010). Neither is as complete as Schneider's encyclopedia, but, to quote the 1996 LJ reviewer, "Buy where needed for specialists and serious researchers."—Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., CUNY