Rating: 
Summary: Helpful
Review: .... The definitions are not cast in completely rigorous terms, leaving to the reader the task to fill in the empty spaces. I don't find it a major drawback, since I mostly use the encyclopedia to find formulas and to get an idea of some object I don't know at all. Moreover, many definitions come with bibliographic references, so that you'll be able to find easily more rigorous statements.My final comment is that this...book effectively fills a void. It will be very valuable to amateurs and recreational mathematicians, while at the same time be of some use to pure and applied mathematicians who need to refresh their memory or are looking for a bibliographic pointer. That this was accomplished by a single author makes this all the more remarkable.
Rating: 
Summary: Having a fundamental issue with purchasing this book.
Review: After reading the account of the author's legal problems brought
on by the publisher, I cannot bring myself to purchase a copy
of the book. This book, together Eric's experiences, amount
to a significant turning point in the history of the relationship
between an author and his publisher. It stands as an example of
how corporations have become entirely too powerful against an
individual. It is inconcievable that such circumstances have prevailed. The worst part is that the publisher's actions will continue to stifle development of the work!
Rating:
Summary: This is a fabulous book for lovers of mathematics.
Review: And before buying it, you can go to the author's website (Yahoo to "Treasure Trove of Mathematics") and sample it as extensively as you like. Among other things you can learn there is that the book in its present form, which is there at Eric's website, is 2100+ pages long. CRC Press is in the process of issuing a second printing. I'm one of Eric's "bug-stompers" and so conceivably prejudiced. But since the probability is great we'll get all the bugs (mainly minor text typos) stomped before December 31, what we'll have here is the best book of the 20th century.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Extensive and rich in content. However, a few years ago, before this encyclopedia was in book form, it was a web site, and that web site was in the minds of many of us the -foremost- math-related web site on the Internet. It was a work widely referenced online and discussed on the messageboards; it had huge potential in the Internet medium. I certainly hope that the CRC lawsuit banning the web site (currently mathworld.wolfram.com) will be withdrawn. As is, I certainly will not purchase the book.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Extensive and rich in content. However, a few years ago, before this encyclopedia was in book form, it was a web site, and that web site was in the minds of many of us the -foremost- math-related web site on the Internet. It was a work widely referenced online and discussed on the messageboards; it had huge potential in the Internet medium. I certainly hope that the CRC lawsuit banning the web site (currently mathworld.wolfram.com) will be withdrawn. As is, I certainly will not purchase the book.
Rating:
Summary: Very good but not encyclopedic
Review: I agree with the reviewer who stated that it was not encyclopedic. I wonder if the rave reviewers were mathematicians. As a mathematician, I judge that certain relatively basic definitions are missing. (By "relatively basic," I mean definitions of terms in a first year graduate student textbook, especially the adjectives which modify the basic terms in such a text.) However, what I have found about subjects at least tangentially related to my field has been thought-provoking and useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference, poor publisher
Review: I bought my first CRC book (Handbook of Math Tables) about 40 years ago. I used it until it fell apart, then have bought a few more copies over the years, along with a few of the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and the excellent Engineering Science book. I've always had good regard for CRC's publications.
However, reading what happened between the author and CRC soured my attitude towards CRC. While there's nothing wrong with making a profit, their behavior seems excessive. Based on what I've read, I've decided to not purchase any more CRC products. If you feel the same way, encourage your colleagues to do the same. I'd like to feel that CRC won the battle, but lost the war.
Finally, I haven't used the web site's material a lot, but when I did, it was quite good. I suggest going with another poster's suggestion of using the web, but not buy the book.
Rating:
Summary: What an Amazing Reference!
Review: I finally found a copy of this book available used, and I snapped it up. I'm absolutely thrilled with it. I'm a math and sciences hobbyist (and not a very advanced one) so I can't comment on accuracy. But the book leaves me with a wonderful way to start researching ideas I've read about in other books and papers. Each entry in the book includes plenty of information, and almost all of them have references to other entries for related subjects. Many have references which include information about deeper papers or books about related subjects, so I can really do some reading! I wish the volume included a dictionary of mathematical symbols. After that, my only complaints are minor. First, the book doesn't discuss any people. That is, it has strictly limited itself to mathematic concepts and doesn't have bibliographic entries for mathemeticians and scientists. Second, the book doesn't include pronunciation information.
Rating: 
Summary: Bright, yet limited.
Review: I have been over various portions of the book, and I find it well done. I do tend to feel that the encyclopedia at hand, however, should have been written with more tact. In order to have a thouroughly clear over-view of the novel (because it is an encyclopedia) there must be a wider range of editing and compilation of the said material. Eric: job well done. Additionaly, It would be more benificial for others and yourself (as a learning process) to seek other peoples' advice and knowledge on the material - like many textbooks...very humbling, yet, extremely benificial. Justin J. Ouellette
Rating:
Summary: The best book for Recreational Math enthusiasts
Review: I have seen many books dealing with mathematical recreations. This book has much of the information from Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns, and is excellently written. I can think of no book which would be better for a budding mathematician.
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