The book Earthquakes and Their Impact on Society, edited by Dr Sebastiano D’Amico, has been selected by Choice magazine and has been listed in the 'Outstanding Academic Titles' for 2016. This prestigious and relatively selective list reflects the best in scholarly titles reviewed by Choice and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community.
According to the American Library Association, the prestigious Outstanding Academic Titles list 'reflects the best in scholarly titles... and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community.' The list contains approximately ten percent of some 7,000 works reviewed in Choice each year.
In awarding Outstanding Academic Titles, the editors apply several criteria to reviewed titles:
- overall excellence in presentation and scholarship
- importance relative to other literature in the field
- distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form
- originality or uniqueness of treatment
- value to undergraduate students
- importance in building undergraduate library collections.
In addition, the book has been reviewed with the following comments: 'This encyclopedic volume is the most up-to-date compilation of systematic scientific knowledge on earthquakes in the Mediterranean and the southern Asian/Pacific seismic zones....Exemplary illustrations (many in color) include numerous photographs of earthquake damage and geologic maps of areas affected by earthquakes. Charts, tables, and engineering drawings are outstandingly educational. All seismic scientists, engineers, historians, and geographers should always have this useful volume at hand. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals and practitioners.' (T.L.T. Grose, Choice, Vol. 54 (3), November, 2016)
Dr Sebastiano D'Amico is a lecturer at the Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Science.