Computer Sciences (Macmillan Science Library)

Author(s): Roger R. Flynn
Publisher: Macmillan Reference USA
Date : 2002

Here is an attractive, readable set designed to present the history of computers and reflect on their purpose, use, and impact today. Nearly 300 entries are organized into four volumes, usually with black-and-white illustrations, photos, or charts. Signed entries are two to four pages long and often include sidebars, definitions for terms or concepts, see also references, and bibliographies with a handful of current sources, many of them online. University professors are among the contributors. Repeated at the beginning of each volume are the preface, tables of measurements, time lines, and table of contents. Each volume concludes with the same glossary and topic outline and a volume index, with a cumulative index at the end of volume 4.
Volume 1 (Foundations: Ideas and People) covers history; volume 2 (Software and Hardware), the nuts and bolts of the technology; volume 3 (Social Applications), how computers affect our everyday lives; and volume 4 (Electronic Universe), the networked society. Organization within each volume is alphabetical. Some representative subjects covered in volume 1 include Babbage, Charles; IBM Corporation; and Transistors. In volume 2 we learn about Client/server technology, Game controllers, and Touch screens; in volume 3, about Airline reserva tions, Educational software, and Spreadsheets; and in volume 4, Cookies, Global positioning systems, and Political applications. Several articles are current enough to include the 9/11 attacks and October 2001 anthrax letters.

There are so many interrelated topics that dividing them by volume is confusing to a user. Chemistry and Electronic campus are in volume 4, but Distance learning and Physics are in volume 3. Assistive computer technology for persons with disabilities is in volume 4, although it could be considered a social application. Art and Music composition are placed in different volumes. The topic outline lists entry headings under broad topics and might be helpful in providing an overview, but it gives no indication of the volumes in which the entries can be found.

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