Reviews and Notes: The Reader's Adviser

The Reader's Adviser

14th edition. Volume 5: The Best in Science, Technology, and Medicine. 975 pages. New Providence, NJ: RR Bowker; 1994. $110.00. ISBN 08-352-332-00. Order phone 800-521-8110.

When you wish to read in a topical field whose literature you do not know, where can you get well-informed guidance on what to look for? If you live in an academic community, you might turn to the astronomy professor who lives next door. If you have a big chain bookstore on Main Street, you can scan the shelves labeled “psychology.” If your town has a public library directed by a polymath, he or she may be able to steer you into the road for geology. But what if you do not have such resources at hand?

Since 1921, The …