REFERENCE
Cohen, R., Barnes, J., Holland, K., Cook, C., Barone, M., & Bicknell, J. The Almanac of American Politics. 2016 Edition. Columbia Books & Information Services, 2015. 2084p index ISBN 9781938518294, $125.00
This edition of The Almanac of American Politics is a comprehensive and primary resource for understanding the American political landscape. The book is organized alphabetically by state, and further, by congressional district within each state. In-depth profiles of every governor, Senator, and House members are provided along with updated demographic information for every state and voting district. Users of this book will find analysis of the mid-term elections in 2014 and a breakdown of votes cast for the Presidential election in 2012. New to this edition are sections providing campaign finance details for candidates, including Super PACs, and an overall analysis of voter turnout. More than 60 state and congressional maps are provided as visuals to help those interested in American politics to understand how the American people vote in elections. The first edition of this book was originally published in 1972, and has been updated on a bi-annual basis to its current 2016 edition. This book includes an index that is extensive and allows users to easily locate the place or person being searched. The authors are prestigious in the area of American politics and have contributed their expertise to National Journal and Congressional Quarterly. They have also won awards such as Everett McKinley Dirksen Award and Carey McWilliams award. This book is the only one of its kind that has extensive analysis of American politics in all 50 states within one volume. This book is essential for anyone who is a politics watcher and wants the ultimate access to information about American Politics.
Summing Up: Highly Recommended. Academic and Public Libraries.
~A.M. Keith, University of Kentucky
Social & Behavioral Behaviors: U.S. Politics
REFERENCE
Fayaz, Ahmed. Encyclopedia of tropical plants: identification and cultivation of over 3,000 tropical plants. Firefly Books, 2011. 720p bibl indexes ISBN 9781554074891, $75.00
This encyclopedia is the first reference guide for tropical plants and features over 3,000 species that represent the major tropical plant groups from all over the world. The plants in this book are organized in their taxonomic categories: order, family, genus, and species. This arrangement allows users to find information on specific tropical flowers and also allows for easy comparison to similar flowers, as opposed to other books on the subject arranged by alphabetical genus name. There are more than 3,000 full-color illustrations that give visuals of the tropical flowers being described and explained. This book contains a glossary and indexes that represent both common names and scientific names of plants that are both extensive and thorough. Other information presented in this book include natural habitat, blooming season, and descriptions of each plant’s parts. The author draws attention to how important cultivation is, due to many tropical plants being threatened by habitat destruction. A references section in the book supplies a bibliography of the works used to build the extensiveness of the encyclopedia. This book was published five years ago and is comparable to The Kew Tropical Plant Families Identification Handbook (Royal Botanic Gardens, 2014, $35.00), even though not as current, more expensive, and does not have each chapter written by an expert on the particular species. Being the first guide for identification of tropical plants, this book would fit well into any library botany collection and will be best used by those who are plant enthusiasts or those lacking valuable information on tropical plants. Summing Up: Highly Recommended. Researchers, professionals, and general readers.
~A.M. Keith, University of Kentucky
Interdisciplinary – Food and Agriculture
Librarian Life 