Book excerpt: For more than a quarter of a century, this amazingly comprehensive dictionary has been a standard international reference. Containing more than 115,000 terms and 125,000 definitions--from 100 areas of science and technology--this trusted resource provides definitions written in clear, simple language, understandable to the general reader, yet is consistent with the specialized use of the term. THE NEW SIXTH EDITION: * Thoroughly revised with 5,000 NEW TERMS * Each term includes a helpful pronunciation guide * Entries are complemented by 3,000 illustrations; appendices containing biographic listings, converison tables, taxonomic classification charts, and more * The only dictionary of scientific and technical terms to be thumb-indexed Invaluable to scientists, researchers, teachers, students, as well as interested lay persons, the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms is truly the single best way for anyone to gain fluency in the language of science.