Dictionaries useful for Biology
TITLE Academic Press dictionary of science and technology /
edited by Christopher Morris
PUBLISHER San Diego : Academic Press, 1992.
Science Library-Reference Q123 .A33 1992
(A good place to start: the dictionary is a recent and
comprehensive compilation ["the largest scientific
dictionary ever compiled in the Engish language"]
covering the vocabulary of 124 different fields;
"includes those terms that are likely to be encountered in
a scientific context by an informed general reader". Also
includes brief essays on general subjects [e.g., biology,
crystallography, entomology, evolution by R.C. Lewontin,
Linus Pauling, Edmund O. Wilson and Stephen Jay Gould,
respectively])
TITLE Cambridge dictionary of biology / editor Peter M.B. Walker.
PUBLISHER Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1990
, c1987.
Science Library-Reference QH302.5 .C46 1990
(developed from the Cambridge Dictionary of Science and
Technology, including more than 100 short articles which
"supply fuller treatments of important and difficult
subjects than are generally found in such a comprehensive
dictionary")
AUTHOR Lawrence, Eleanor, 1949-
TITLE Henderson's dictionary of biological terms / Eleanor Lawrence.
EDITION 10th ed.
PUBLISHER New York : Wiley, 1989.
Science Library-Reference QH302.5 .H65 1989
(extensively revised and updated, strong on acronyms; in
many respects complementary to the Cambridge Dictionary,
and comparison of definitions is often productive)
TITLE The Facts on File dictionary of biology / edited by Elizabeth
Tootill.
EDITION 2nd ed.
PUBLISHER New York : Facts on File, [1981]
Science Library-Reference QH13 .F33
(fewer but longer definitions than Cambridge Dictionary
or Henderson's)
TITLE A Dictionary of life sciences / edited by E. A. Martin.
PUBLISHER New York : Pica Press : distributed by Universe Books, 1977,
c1976.
Science Library-Reference QH302.5 .D52 1977
(many definitions are long, though the publication date
indicates that the content is reaching the limits of
contemporary usefulness)
TITLE International dictionary of medicine and biology / editorial
board, E. Lovell Becker ... [et al.] ; consulting editor,
Alexandre Manuila ; editor-in-chief, Sidney I. Landau.
PUBLISHER New York : Wiley, c1986.
Science Library-Reference R121 .I58 1986 (3 vols)
(a comprehensive medical dictionary, including "closely
allied" biological subdisciplines; main entries [e.g.,
'anesthesia'] group together large numbers of terms
[e.g., ambulatory anesthesia, angiospastic anesthesia,
basal anesthesia, caudal anesthesia, etc.])
AUTHOR Medawar, P. B. (Peter Brian), 1915-
TITLE Aristotle to zoos : a philosophical dictionary of biology / P.B.
Medawar & J.S. Medawar.
PUBLISHER Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1983.
Leyburn Library QH302.5 .M4 1983
(a "leisurely, relaxed and reflective" volume, aimed at the
browser: "For the best results the reader must abstain
resolutely from learning anything he or she does not want
to know and must exercise at all times the reader's
liberating privilege --skipping." The browser will
be rewarded with elegant prose and surprising insights.)
TITLE Keywords in evolutionary biology / edited by Evelyn Fox Keller
and Elisabeth A. Lloyd.
PUBLISHER Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1992.
Leyburn Library QH360.6 .K49 1992
AUTHOR Roe, Keith E.
TITLE Dictionary of theoretical concepts in biology / Keith E. Roe &
Richard G. Frederick.
PUBLISHER Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1981.
Science Library-Reference QH302.5 .R63
(provides bibliographic citations for more than 1,100
concepts [e.g., Red Queen Hypothesis, Fitness, Group
Selection, Lamarckian Evolution, etc.], concentrating
on classic articles and historical development of the
concepts)
AUTHOR Art, Henry W.
TITLE Dictionary of ecology and environmental science.
PUBLISHER New York : Henry Holt
Science Library-Reference GE10 .D53 1993
(concise definitions for terms from various allied fields,
a good place to start in unfamiliar terminology)
AUTHOR Immelmann, Klaus.
TITLE Worterbuch der Verhaltensforshung. English.
A dictionary of ethology / Klaus Immelmann and Colin Beer.
PUBLISHER Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1989.
Science Library-Reference QL750.3 .I4513 1989
AUTHOR Singleton, Paul.
TITLE Dictionary of microbiology and molecular biology /
Paul Singleton, Diana Sainsbury.
EDITION 2nd ed.
PUBLISHER Chichester [West Sussex] ; New York : Wiley, c1987.
Science Library-Reference QR9 .S56 1987
(comprehensive treatment of a rapidly-changing subject
area, many definitions quite extensive and including
ample cross references and references to literature
to the mid-1980s)
TITLE The Concise Oxford dictionary of zoology / edited by Michael
Allaby.
PUBLISHER Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1991.
Science Library-Reference QL9 .C66 1991
(especially strong in animal taxa, but also including
ethology, ecology and physiology)