Helaine Selin


Helaine Selin is an American librarian, historian of science, author and book editor.

Career

Selin attended Binghamton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She received her MLS from SUNY Albany. She was a Peace Corps volunteer from the fall of 1967 through the summer of 1969 as a teacher of English and African History in Karonga, Malawi. She retired in 2012 from being the science librarian at Hampshire College.
Selin is known for being the editor of Encyclopaedia of the [History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures] which is one of the first books which allows readers to "compare a variety of traditional systems of mathematics and cosmologies." Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics, is considered by Mathematical Intelligencer as a companion to the Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. The journal, Mathematics and Computer Education, wrote that Mathematics Across Cultures filled a gap in the history of mathematics and was "an exciting collection of papers on ethnomathematics." Selin's editorial work, Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures, was considered by Polylog to be a "valuable source for intercultural philosophers." Selin edited the Encyclopaedia of Classical Indian Sciences. She has also edited several more books in the Science Across Cultures series: Medicine Across Cultures, Nature and the Environment Across Cultures, Childbirth Across Cultures, Parenting Across Cultures, Happiness Across Cultures, Death Across Cultures and Aging Across Cultures.

Work as an editor

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures Astronomy Across Cultures: the history of non-Western astronomy Mathematics Across Cultures: the history of non-western mathematics Medicine Across Cultures: history and practice of medicine in non-Western cultures Nature Across Cultures: views of nature and the environment in non-western cultures Encyclopaedia of classical Indian sciences Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures 2nd ed. and 3rd ed. Childbirth across cultures: ideas and practices of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum Happiness across cultures: views of happiness and quality of life in non-Western cultures Parenting Across Cultures: Childrearing, Motherhood and Fatherhood in Non-Western Cultures and 2nd ed. Death Across Cultures: Death and Dying in Non-Western Cultures Aging Across Cultures: Growing Old in the Non-Western World Childhood in Turkey: Educational, Sociological and Psychological Perspectives