Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science

by Neil Ardley

Containing more than 200,000 words, 1,400 color photographs, and two hundred illustrations, an innovative reference answers tough questions about science with vibrant and helpful pictures, accompanied by a straightforward text to make the intricate subject of science more accessible. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Reference

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Neil Ardley was an English jazz composer, pianist, arranger, and acclaimed science writer whose career bridged music, education, and publishing. After studying chemistry at Bristol University, he moved to London and immersed himself in the city's thriving jazz scene, studying composition and arranging before becoming a central figure in modern British jazz. As director of the New Jazz Orchestra, he helped nurture a generation of influential musicians while developing a distinctive musical voice that blended jazz improvisation with classical forms. His albums, including Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, Greek Variations and Other Aegean Exercises, Symphony of Amaranths, and Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, earned critical praise for their ambitious orchestration and innovative use of electronic sounds. Alongside his musical work, Ardley built an equally successful career in publishing. Beginning as an editor, he went on to write more than one hundred books, many aimed at introducing young readers to science, technology, nature, and music. His best-known work, The Way Things Work, illustrated by David Macaulay, became an international bestseller and helped establish him as one of Britain's most successful popular science authors. By the time of his retirement, his books had sold millions of copies worldwide, securing his reputation as both an influential musician and an exceptional communicator of knowledge.

Reviews

[Hollowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six ****** stars! This 1997 now-classic still holds its own as an excellent REFERENCE text ... even in this post-paper-Wiki-Kindle world. Leave it to DK to re-invent the paper book format for the digital "Wiki" age. Note by "wiki" I mean its innate Polynesian connotation: quick, accessible, succinct. DK releases HQ True-PDF versions which preserve most of their orig., paper fidelity -- but I haven't seen Ultimate Visual Science or (more-generic) Ultimate Visual Dict. in that iPad-friendly format. Hope DK True-PDFs their older titles -- they are worth it!

[Belle Meade School]

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