crc handbook

CRC handbook


   Any of the editions of the Chemical Rubber Company Handbook of
   Chemistry and Physics; there are other CRC handbooks, such as the CRC
   Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulae, but "the" CRC handbook is
   the chemistry and physics reference. It is massive tome full of
   mathematical tables, physical constants of thousands of alloys and
   chemical compounds, dielectric strengths, vapor pressure, resistivity,
   and the like. Hackers have remarkably little actual use for these
   sorts of arcana, but are such information junkies that a large
   percentage of them acquire copies anyway and would feel vaguely bereft
   if they couldn't look up the magnetic susceptibility of potassium
   permanganate at a moment's notice. On hackers' bookshelves, the CRC
   handbook is rather likely to keep company with an unabridged Oxford
   English Dictionary and a good atlas.