Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

100 Greatest Science Discoveries of All Time. By Kendall Haven. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 255 p. $35.00. ISBN 10:1-59158-265-2; 13: 978-1-59158-265-6.

Students in science classes in middle and high school will enjoy challenging this author's choice of the 100 greatest discoveries with their own "greatest" discoveries. Science teachers may use it to enhance their science units. The author's criteria for selection are given in the introduction, and this list would be useful if science teachers wanted students to select, analyze, and report on any scientific discovery. Each discovery is described in two pages and has the year of discovery, an inset box with "What is it?" and Who discovered it?" A paragraph defends "Why is this one of the 100 greatest?" and continues with "How it was discovered." Fun Facts are shown with a light bulb icon, and a "More to explore" bibliography will have six or more citations for further research. In settling students at the beginning of each class, science teachers may choose to read one of these entries either one day or stretch it over two days. While it belongs on the reference shelf, you may want to have one or more copies for your circulating collection. This is a winner and you will want to "book talk" it for your science teachers as soon as your copy arrives. Helping them integrate this content into their curriculum will help make science more important to students who might be less interested.