Nobel : a century of prize winners /

Beginning with an eight-page introduction covering Alfred Nobel's life and his will and the groups that select the Nobel Prize winners, this volume includes lists of awards organized by decade. There are brief biographies of more than 200 of the most famous and most interesting laureates but no real explanation for why some are included and so many others omitted (for example, James Watson but not Francis Crick). Entries include a small photo, the individual's dates, a descriptive phrase, and a page summarizing contributions and personal life. About 10 articles add an illustrated page related to the honoree. For example, The way in which the Earth warms faces the entry on Mario Jose Molina, who won the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his ozone-depletion theory. The index only includes personal and organization names, not subjects. No sources are listed; no speeches are cited; no further reading is suggested. The Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-2000 (4th ed., 2001) is more comprehensive, even though it's dated, and the free website, http://www.nobelprize.org, is more comprehensive and better organized.--Gooden, Susan Copyright 2010 Booklist

The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious international awards given. Since its inception in 1901, the various Nobel Prize committees have awarded over 200 prizes. This one-volume tome by Worek, who is also the author of Firefly's An American History Album: The Story of the United States Told Through Stamps (2008), lists the people and organizations that have received the award for their achievements in the fields of peace, physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and (after 1968) economics. The book begins with a biography, three and a half pages long, of Alfred Nobel. Information about the various Nobel Prize committees and the prizes is also included. Chapters are arranged chronologically by decade, while entries in each chapter are arranged by year. Particularly notable prize recipients in each year are given a more detailed examination. Usually one to two pages long, the entries are made up of a brief biography, a photograph, and an explanation of how the person's work has influenced the world. Many discussing medical or scientific achievements have illustrations showing their application. Colored edges at the bottom of each page show the year and the award category, and each chapter ends with a chronological listing of winners for that decade, the location and date of their birth and death, and the award received. Because some recipients are mentioned more than once, an index at the back simplifies finding people by name. Bottom Line Libraries holding Louise S. Sherby's The Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners 1901-2000 (Oryx, 2002) might want to update their collection with this book, since its coverage extends through 2007. Patrons looking for a starting place for information about Nobel Prize recipients, or just casual users curious to see who was awarded the Nobel Prizes the year they were born, will find this book useful. Suitable for both academic and public libraries. [Available in print only.]-James Langan, Univ. of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.