John Wiley & Sons, one of the world’s leading publishers of science and technical books, has selected Heartland Science Director Jay Lehr, managing editor of Environment & Climate News, to serve as editor-in-chief of a four-volume Encyclopedia of Water to be published in 2004. The book set will contain 2,100 entries on water in 3,750 pages containing 4.5 million words.
The encyclopedia is being produced much as the original Oxford English Dictionary was first produced in the nineteenth century, when men and women of letters were invited to contribute to the work. The fascinating story of this endeavor was chronicled in the 1999 best-selling book The Professor and the Madman. Oxford put out a call to the English-speaking world through 2,000 letters.
Lehr is approaching the water encyclopedia task with modern technology, by means of a Web site whose address is www.wileywater.com. Invitations to visit the Web site and contribute to the Encyclopedia of Water will be placed across the Internet where water scientists congregate.
Readers of Environment & Climate News are invited to visit www.wileywater.com and consider making a contribution to the existing list of subjects as well as suggesting a subject that may not be listed.