This encyclopedia is a dream-come-true for students and scientists alike. It is loaded with useful, up-to-date information on a wide range of subjects dealing primarily with biodiversity, but also general biology. Chapters dealing with relevant and topical terms and phrases in biodiversity are authored by internationally renowned experts in those fields. The writing is clear and all entries are suberbly illustrated and fully referenced. It is a pity that this 5-volumed work is priced so high that it will probably not make the bookshelves of many academic and research libraries (who are continually forced to cut back their budgets), let alone those of students or scientists, for whom this should otherwise be an essential reference source. The only other fault I find with it is the color plates to all 5 volumes are placed at the beginning of volume 1, which unfortunately requires a reader of a chapter in, say, volume 5, to also open volume 1 to see the plate(s) being referred to. Normally this would be a minor inconvenience, but the large weight and large format of each of these volumes make such a maneuver one that would require a large coffee table or laboratory bench to be performed correctly.