Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Biotechnology: Changing Life through Science. Edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2007. 3 vols. 774 p. $181.00. ISBN-10: 1-4144-0151-5; ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-0151-5.

Created for younger readers and general readers, this reference offers a solid foundation in science and technology issues related to biotechnology. The editors suggest they offer "simple explanations of sometimes advanced scientific principles." Divided into "Medicine," "Agriculture" and "Industry," each of these volumes has the same 7-page timeline (beginning with 1947 and the Nuremberg Code regarding voluntary consent of human subjects and ending with 2006 and the launch of a new Genetic Modification Clinical Research Information System, GeMCRIS) and the same 28-page glossary. Individual articles have a brief description, the scientific foundations, development, and current issues. Blue inset boxes offer additional information and "Words to Know." Color photographs and charts illustrate the text. Each offers a brief bibliography and "see also" references to articles in the other two volumes. The index in each covers all three volumes. This will be useful for advanced students in middle school who are asked to research the issues, and these books will be very helpful in gathering basic information to compare to what is found in other sources. The topics are timely and your health and science teachers will be interested in seeing these.