Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science (Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries)

From Parents' Choice 

This richly illustrated reference guide is more a condensed, advanced high school course in physics, chemistry and biology than a traditional dictionary. Each topic - listed by subject and not alphabetically - is explored through colorful, detailed charts, graphs and tables; cross-referencing links the major branches of the natural sciences. Middle school-aged children may not be ready for such an extensive, sophisticated text, but high school students will find the straightforward definitions and comprehensive index essential study companions. A 2000 Parents' Choice® Recommended winner. 

 An excellent science source, September 20, 2006

I have found some factual errors in this book, but overall it is a thorough science book for physics, chemistry, and biology. This book is an unabridged compilation of the three books in the illustrated dictionary series--Illustrated Dictionary of Physics, Illustrated Dictionary of Chemistry, and Illustrated Dictionary of Biology. Even if you are only interested in one of these topics, you still need to be aware of British versions being sold by sellers at Amazon. Unfortunately, they list them as the American version, but they're not. After a few pages of reading the British spelling for words like 'oestrogen', 'foetus', etc., you will be completely frustrated. This is the American edition of all three and a bargain too. We homeschool and use this as one of many science books. For anyone studying Biology, I would also highly recommend the National Geographic movie "In the Womb" which shows a baby developing through all 40 weeks.