Science, Technology and Society: The Impact of Science Throughout History: the Impact of Science inthe 20th Century Book

Examines scientific discoveries and developments within their historic context, showing how social trends and events influenced science and how scientific developments changed ...

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-This companion to Science, Technology, and Society: The Impact of Science throughout History 2000 BC through the 18th Century (2002) and Science, Technology, and Society: The Impact of Science in the 19th Century (2001, both UXL) is likely to be the most popular of the lot. It covers research topics of contemporary interest from cloning to HDTV, and supplies basic biographies for dozens of active or recently active scientists. Each of the set's broad chapters is identically organized, with a core of analytical topical essays ("New Math in American Public Schools," "The Rise of the Appropriate Technology Movement") sandwiched between an overview and thumbnail or more extended biographical profiles. The occasional illustrations are sometimes muddy black-and-white photographs. There are see references throughout and each chapter closes with source lists and useful suggestions for research topics. The detailed index reprinted at the end of each volume makes quick reference a snap. Despite occasional missteps-there is no mention of the questions surrounding the accuracy of Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa, for instance, and theory is defined in a way that undermines creationist arguments-this, with its companions, makes a stimulating, accessible alternative to the more gadget-oriented approach in Rudi Volti's Facts On File Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Society (Facts On File, 1999).-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.