Van Nostrand's Encyclopedia of Chemistry
Van Nostrand's Encyclopedia of Chemistry, 5th Edition

Edited by Glenn D. Considine

Published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2005

This is an 8.5" by 11" hardbound book running to 1831 pages including the index, plus a brief preface and list of contributors.

The last previous edition of this encyclopedia was published in 1984. Lots has changed in chemistry since then. This edition of the Encyclopedia has about 2750 entries, versus 1250 for the 1984 edition. One of the reasons for the expansion is the increasing specialization and compartmentalization in the field. The preface says, "...In addition to 'classical' topics of chemistry, the new Encyclopedia covers nanotechnology, fuel cell technology, green chemistry, forensic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, brief biographies on scores of scientists, and materials chemistry." Besides topics a user of an encyclopedia of chemistry would normally expect to find, this one gives special attention to advanced processes, strategic raw materials, chemistry of metals, energy sources and conversion, analytical instrumentation, growing use of food chemicals, structure of matter; new and improved materials, plant chemistry, and biochemistry and biotechnology.

Entries range widely in length. The article on "Flavors and Essences," not one of chemistry's major topics, is nearly eight pages of fairly small print in this book, while the entries for "Micelle," "Michel, Hartmut," and "Microchemistry" are each only a few lines long. The brief enties are unsigned and the longer ones are signed by a contributor. The prose style varies slightly according to the scholar who contributed an article, but is always fairly readable considering the technical subject matter.

This is a very fine encyclopedia of chemistry.