Author: Allan Granoff & Robert G. Webster
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0122270304
Year: 1999-08-20
Pages: 1997

The editors and the over 250 expert contributors to this encyclopedia are to be commended for the fantastic work they have done in producing a resource that is valuable to both undergraduates and specialists. The encyclopedia features 270 alphabetically arranged articles discussing topics that range from specific viruses and virus groups to diagnostic techniques and the history of virology. Animal, insect, plant, and bacteriologial viruses are all covered. Each entry includes a self-contained summary of the topic at hand and provides both recommendations for further reading and a list of other relevant entries. Many of the articles have a section on future perspectives that shows the direction of current research. In addition, there are cross references and an extensive index. While expensive, this encyclopedia is the only comprehensive work on virology to have appeared in the past few years. The field is changing so quickly that finding concise, understandable information in a single source is difficult. Other current works include Bernard Fields's Fields Virology (Raven, 1990. 2d ed.) and Fundamental Virology (Raven, 1991). (Fields is a contributor to this volume as well.) These are both textbooks aimed at educating the virologist or physician, while the encyclopedia is geared toward a wider audience. Recommended for academic and medical libraries.

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