Under The Microscope

THE EYEWITNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE, Dorling Kindersley CD-ROM; $159

Reviewed by Vicki Hyde

It's rather incongruous having a multimedia CD-ROM science package accessed through a Victorian-style control screen, complete with buzzing coils and brass knobs, but it works. The rest of the material is more conservative in approach, with text and diagrams covering everything from acceleration to zoology.

Perhaps Dorling Kindersley should have called this a "Dictiopedia", as the material falls somewhere between a dictionary and an encyclopedia. The dictionary nature is highlighted by the many pop-ups used to define words and concepts. The brief nature of the entries, however, reminds you that this is not wholly an encyclopedia. The very basic entries in the Periodic Table section would have done well with more of the detail that an encyclopedia encompasses.

I'm not sure whether I'd call this multimedia -- it's very text-dependent and the animations and video material are often incidental to the text. If the bells and whistles encourage school pupils to delve further into science -- by reading some of the books in their library, perhaps -- so much the better.

Dorling Kindersley have thought about the packaging, not common with CD-ROM publishers. The solid book-style box which the disc comes in not only looks good on the shelf, it ensures that this CD-ROM won't get mixed up with the music CDs and won't stay on the shelf too long.

CD-ROM kindly supplied by Future Learning, Box 104, Geraldine (Tel: 0800-47-47-47).

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.