Book Note

Joseph E. Harmon; Alan G. Gross, editors. The Scientific Literature: A Guided Tour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 312 pp, ills. $72.50 cloth, $29.00 paper.

Reviewed by Audra Wolfe

In the introduction to this anthology, editors Joseph Harmon and Alan Gross describe the work as a sort of “Michelin Guide” to the development of the scientific article over the past four centuries. Their description is apt in that, like most guide books, The Scientific Literature offers highlights, interesting anecdotes, and recommendations rather than presenting its readers with much in the way of actual examples. (Alas, it does not offer a ratings system.) As befits a volume that grew out of an exhibition at the libraries of the University of Chicago, significant attention is devoted to such visual elements as tables, equations, and illustrations that have accompanied scientific texts since the scientific journal’s birth in the 17th century. Although the selections are somewhat idiosyncratic and the excerpts all too brief, the editors’ excellent sense of the telling detail make this volume a pleasure to dip into or to read from cover to cover.