It is scarcely surprising that in such a rapidly-developing field, a fairly recent reference book should already have reached its third edition, or that it should have expanded so. Reviewing the 2008 first edition of 297 pages, Mary Robinson found “… a reference dictionary that is both in-depth and up-to-date” (RR 2008/307). By the second edition, 2011, it had grown to 409 pages. Our reviewer, John Goodier, mentioned that, as he was writing, a copy of Scientific American arrived, containing an article on DNA vaccines. He tried a few of the terms mentioned and did not find some of them, “… but things may be ready for a breakthrough. If so the next edition will hopefully have them ”. (RR 2011/031). There hasn't quite been the breakthrough that John hoped for, but I checked back on the same article in the 510 pages of this edition, and found all of the terms that I checked, so things are definitely moving. Perhaps by the next edition?
We have, of course, reviewed numerous other reference books on genomics. I would note in particular DNA Technology: Reference Handbook (Newton, 2010) which our reviewer said “… would make an excellent addition to any public or scholarly library collection” (RR 2011/084) We have also looked at web-sites such as Human Genome Project Information (www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome) of which our reviewer said “High school and college students, educators and researchers will find the… site informative and useful” (RR 2012/128). I would also note a couple of books designed for general public use that we seem to have missed: DNA from A-Z (Farkas, 2004) and the more authoritative but now sadly dated A-Z of DNA Science (Witherly et al. 2001). It is also worth mentioning the Human Genome Research Institute's web-site – www.genome.gov among other useful resources. There is therefore no shortage of reference tools on the topic. Nevertheless I do not know of any other authoritative comprehensive alphabetical reference book to rival this one.
The study of the genome has moved into the scientific and medical mainstream. We are, I think, in the process of making the breakthrough John was looking for when reviewing the previous edition. When this book first came out, medical students and other applied bioscientists did not have to know about genomics. Nowadays they do. In my own institution, for example, when the first edition appeared we had a flourishing genetics unit whose members were expected to have absorbed this vocabulary already, but few other people took more than a passing interest. Now virtually every member of the Institute may find the need to use the technical vocabulary of this subject. All medical or biological libraries should seriously consider acquiring this book. I would not particularly recommend it for public library use: the terminology is probably too abstruse for the general reader. Failing an updated version of Witherly et al, I would suggest that a copy of DNA Technology: A Reference Handbook and access to Human Genome Project Information online would probably provide adequate general reference cover. It might be worth keeping this excellent reference book in mind though.
