Subject Guides

Whittles, Keith and Alice Goldie. Concise dictionary of biology. London: Tiger Books International, 1993.

A small dictionary for student or layman with little or no knowledge of biology.

Juo, Pei-Show. Concise dictionary of biomedicine and molecular biology. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2002.

Some 30,000 entries in this dictionary offer brief definitions of terms commonly used in biotechnology, molecular biology, and biomedicine. Entries provide information on the chemical structures and molecular weights of drugs, antibiotics, and biochemically important compounds, listing corresponding generic names for trade names of drugs and cross-references to chemical structure.

Scott, Thomas. Concise encyclopedia biology. Berlin ; New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1996.

The more than 7000 entries (along with 1200 figures, formulas, and tables) range from a few lines to several pages and cover all fields of biology: anatomy, biochemistry, botany, ecology, genetics, molecular biology, physiology, and zoology. The book is especially good on various groups of plants and animals, and although persons are not given individual entries, names appear in longer entries, especially in a good history of biology under "Biology." The many excellent line drawings add much to the explanations.

A dictionary of biology. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Contains 4,700 clear and concise entries and this edition includes biographical entries on key scientists. It provides comprehensive coverage of biology and biochemistry, as well as key terms from medicine and paleontology.

The encyclopedia of molecular biology. Edited by John C. Kendrew and Eleanor Lawrence. Oxford ; Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell Science, 1994.

A comprehensive and concise guide to core topics in molecular biology and related fields, intended for biologists and students. There are about 200 longer review articles on selected topics, which include brief bibliographies, as well as 4,000 brief definitions of terms.

Gray, Peter. The encyclopedia of the biological sciences. 2d ed. New York, : Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1970.

Articles for students and biologists who need a concise description of topics outside their area of specialization. Most articles are longer than 500 words.

Rédei, G. P. Encyclopedic dictionary of genetics, genomics, and proteomics. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Liss, 2003.

Longer review articles of topics, linked to briefer definitions of terms. Bibliographies attached to the longer articles include references to recent journal articles, as well as standard books. Also  included are addresses for biology databases, although some of the addresses may have changed and the library may not have a subscription to others.

Grzimek, Bernhard. Grzimek's Animal life encyclopedia. New York, : Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1972.

Fairly detailed guide to animal life, with a volume or more covering each of the animal groupings, mammals, fish, birds, etc.