Review: This is one of the few dictionaries that have been reviewed and the first for some years. The reasons why this is so might lie in the impossibility of getting a good grip on the text. There are no chapters and the idea of describing sections A to Z doesn't appeal. What perhaps is best is to road test the book: to dip into it as one would a lay person trying to find some answer to a specific term.

There are over 8000 definitions here which obviously suggests some statement about inclusion/exclusion of terms. The first question therefore is to see if the terms are of an equal "difficulty" i.e. does the dictionary have a theoretical student in mind at a given level? The answer to this does seem to be 'yes'. All of the common terms seem to be there: the ones needed by senior secondary students at least with a few rarer terms added. Coverage is very good with a whole range of disciplines contributing to the mix so there are no real omissions. The second element could well be the quality of the definitions - are they "standard" and of equal complexity? Again, the author seems to have pitched the work at the right level. although there is a wide range of sizes, most definitions are about 30 words long and most of the work seems to be quite standard so students using this text would gain a useful set of key words which would be understandable elsewhere. Set against this obvious utility is the lack of illustrations. In most cases this does not impede understanding but it would improve matters if there were more.

Despite the brevity here, this dictionary is a very fine one. It has all the common terms well defined. Language is particularly good: there's clarity but with rigour so that terms still get their proper function. This is a good feature and one that is frequently missed in such works. Overall, a very good dictionary which would be a great addition to the library shelves.