This milestone extensive work combines the essentials of history – biography, chronology, political and economic background – with the observations, theories, principles, laws and equations that constitute the specifics of science. The 5800-page Encyclopedia arises from the conviction that the optimal perspective on science is through the lens of history, setting aside traditional divisions of discipline and specialty, and rising above geopolitical boundaries. Reaching from 4,200 BCE to the 21st century CE, the Encyclopedia tells (as the author himself puts it) "not only who did it and when it was done but also precisely what was done." The author, Ari Ben-Menahem, surveys 100 generations of great thinkers, offering 2070 detailed biographies of scientists, engineers, explorers and inventors, who left their mark on the history of science and technology. The span of coverage is all-encompassing: mathematics, philosophy, logic, physical and environmental sciences (including physics, chemistry, astronomy, earth and space sciences and cosmology), life sciences (biology, medicine, physiology, botany, zoology and biochemistry), associated engineering disciplines, and the social sciences (among them economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics and more). The six-volume Encyclopedia also includes 380 articles summarizing the time-line of ideas in the leading fields of science, technology, mathematics and philosophy, plus useful tables, figures and photos, and 20 ‘Science Progress Reports’ detailing scientific setbacks. Interspersed throughout are quotations, gathered from the wit and wisdom of sages, savants and scholars throughout the ages from antiquity to modern times.

'The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Etienne Sakr' combines an account of a Lebanese personality with a penetrating analysis of the historical and religious contours of Lebanon. His life is part of the national epic with elements of Christian faith and Maronite sophistication, interconfessional modes of partnership, and violence tearing apart the fabric of social and economic life. Integral to the narrative and incisively unconventional interpretation is the complex politics of Lebanon intermixed with the war that erupted in 1975." "Personal testimonies from Lebanese residents and conversations with others outside Lebanon, who knew Abu-Arz, in addition to interviews with Israelis acquainted with him, provide a dimension of authenticity to the portrait drawn of this remarkable man. Etienne Sakr, with a steadfast ideological commitment to a non-Arab Lebanese identity and political independence, fought the Syrian and Palestinian intruders, and with his Guardians of the Cedars Party cooperated with Israel. While ineluctably embroiled in the inter-Christian power struggles, Abu-Arz acquired a reputation as the conscience of Lebanon, but without achieving a position of power ascendancy. But he was present in the Lebanese Forces decision-making councils, and his own revelatory evidence contributes to an understanding of the agony and divisiveness that characterized the Christian leadership in the turmoil of war. His moral stance was clear and his political judgment filled with foresight, but hispatriots often preferred to ignore his message and marginalize his role.