The Scientific Companion: Exploring the Physical World with Facts, Figures, and Formulas

The Scientific Companion by Cesare Emiliani is one of the most important reference works on the shelves in my high school science classroom. I wore out my copy of the first edition and snapped up a copy of the second edition when it came out in 1995. It is primarily a physical science reference, but I think it would prove useful as a reference for a life science teacher also. It has a lot of those physical science facts and equations that you need, but don't want to memorize: the mass of a proton and a neutron in atomic mass units, the masses and mass numbers of all the isotopes, the names of the quarks, conversion factors, a great periodic table, and lots of other basic stuff. Each chapter is a concise refresher course on a basic physical science subject. I think you'll find this book as indispensable as I do.