Average customer rating:
- Gemstones of the world
- Gemstones of the World
- Great book, tiny print...
- Best overall gemstone book ever
- Gemstone trader's bible
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Gemstones of the World: Newly Revised & Expanded Third Edition
Walter Schumann
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Gemstones (Smithsonian Handbooks)
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The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones: A Complete Guide to Appraising and Using Precious Stones From Cut and Color to Shape and Settings
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Gem Identification Made Easy, Third Edition: A Hands-On Guide to More Confident Buying & Selling
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Colored Gemstones, 2nd Edition: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide: How to Select, Buy, Care for & Enjoy Sapphires, Emeralds, Rubies and Other Colored Gemstones
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Gemstone Buying Guide, Second Edition: How to Evaluate, Identify, Select & Care for Colored Gems
ASIN: 1402740166 |
Book Description
Gemstones of the World is truly the single volume that every hobbyist, jeweler, jewelry maker, and rockhound needs: it’s the cornerstone of the field. And this updated edition contains a host of new findings on “Gemstones for Collectors,” additional gems in the “Table of Constants,” and the “double fraction” figures that experts have long wanted—a very special new feature.
All the gemstones are treated in their many variations: more than 1,500 full-color photos showcase each precious and semiprecious stone in both its rough, natural, and its polished and cut renditions. Each entry offers complete information on the gemstone’s formation, structure, physical properties, and characteristics, along with the best methods of working, cutting, and polishing it. There are even full treatments of lesser-known gems, from andalusite to vesuvian, and a special section is devoted to rocks as precious stones, including alabaster, onyx, obsidian, and fossils. Organic gem materials are also covered, such as coral, ivory, amber, and pearl. Charts and tables help collectors identify unknown gemstones and check for genuineness.
Customer Reviews:
Gemstones of the world.......2007-09-21
This is a very informative book with some good pictures, especially for the beginner who is learnig about gemstones. I read and reference it often. I am very pleased with this book and I look forward to using it for a long time.
Gemstones of the World.......2007-09-12
I use it all the time. It has answered all of my questions. Great book.
Great book, tiny print..........2007-08-31
I so want to read this book but every time I try I get a headache because the print is so tiny, and that is with my reading glasses on. Otherwise a very interesting book!
Best overall gemstone book ever.......2007-08-08
I bought the 2001 edition several years ago and found it indispensable at the jewelry store where I worked. Now that I'm getting into the nitty gritty of the Graduate Gemologist program at the GIA, I'm quite pleased to find an updated version available. I expect I'll be taking this to school with me to replace several large, ungainly lab manuals that haunt my desk.
This book makes a great cornerstone for any gem library. I own many gem guides and encyclopedias twice the size and weight of this while containing considerably less information. This one has the most complete collection of information and pictures I've seen anywhere at an astonishingly diminutive size. If you plan to buy only one gem book in your lifetime, I highly recommend this one.
Gemstone trader's bible.......2007-07-28
I dabble in gemstones - buying and selling from Brazil, Colombia and other countries. Schumann's book is a bible - an essential reference with a very accessable layout, excellent and concise information. Rarely do I need to seek other sources when researching stones.
Average customer rating:
- A Whirlwind Tour of One of Mankind's Most Important Products!
- Exceptional non-fiction
- Throw It Over Your Left Shoulder!
- An extraordinary read...
- A must-read for foodies and non-academic history buffs
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Salt: A World History
Mark Kurlansky
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
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ASIN: 0142001619
Release Date: 2003-01-28 |
Book Description
Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World, here turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Kurlansky's kaleidoscopic history is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.
Customer Reviews:
A Whirlwind Tour of One of Mankind's Most Important Products!.......2007-09-23
This is a whirlwind historial tour of one of civilizations most important products!
A sustance so valuable, salt has served as currency, influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions.
The United States is both the largest producer of salt in the world and the largest consumer. It produceds more than 40 million metric tons, earning more than $1 billion in sales revenues.
Author Mark Kurlansky writes that fashionable people are divided into two camps. The first is passionate about staying healthy and eating less salt. The second is pasionate about salt.
Like all his books, Kurlansky's "Salt" is endlessly interesting and informative.
Exceptional non-fiction.......2007-09-09
I read very little non-fiction, but this book was so full of interesting facts that it was almost impossible to put down. Kurlansky's account of mankind's quest for salt and the commerce it created is indeed a mini-history of civilization. The book is well written, easy to read, and holds the reader's interest from first page to last. I found myself reaching for it again and again to find out what happens next. Who would have dreamed that a common every-day product that we take for granted could have such a rich, varied history? Kurlansky did a wonderful job!
Throw It Over Your Left Shoulder!.......2007-08-28
Salt is a great subject for a book. Everyone is familiar with salt. It complements the flavor of food (as with French fries). It can be used to preserve foods (salted fish for example). It can be used to process foods (such as cheeses). It can be found in salt mines and in the evaporation of salt water. It is a commodity that can be bought and sold. It can be taxed by the government. And it can be exaggerated.
I'll give just one example. Midway through the book, the author states, "The history of the Americas is one of constant warfare over salt. Whoever controlled salt was in power." Think about that! The Declaration of Independence? -- Salt. The American Revolution? -- Salt. The Whiskey Rebellion? -- Salt. The War of 1812? -- Salt. The Mexican War? -- Salt. At least he did not say, "Give me liberty or give me salt!" Nonetheless, continued overreaching and exaggeration render the author's opinions unreliable and completely undercut the appearance of meticulous research. It is not long before the reader hears a voice in the back of his/her mind repeatedly saying, "I wonder if that is true?"
The book recites many interesting stories and presents novel perspectives of the role of salt in human society. However, as noted by many prior reviewers, the deficiencies of lack of organization, statements that are scientifically suspect and lack of historical reliability greatly detract from the potential of the subject matter. It is not a waste of time but there are better books out there.
An extraordinary read..........2007-08-15
Among the most thought-provoking books I have read...the impact of salt upon history is extraordinary.
A must-read for foodies and non-academic history buffs.......2007-08-11
I bought this book after it was recommended to me by a professor in a food-writing course. It sat on the shelf for more than a semester, as I had a full stack of books to get through for class. Then this summer a chef friend of mine finished it in about a day and started raving to me about it, so I figured it was time to crack it open.
It is one of the few books in the last year that I could not put down. I normally read several books at a time, skipping from one to another as my interest waxes and wanes. I finished this book in three days, and would have done so much faster if not for classes. Kurlansky's style is attention grabbing and well structured, and he kept me wondering where his narrative history of salt was headed next.
This book is an epicurean's history of the world, and as the title of my review states, I would recommend it to just about any fan of good food. It may not match up to the exhaustive standards of the work of strictly academic historians: but if it did, it would not be nearly as fun a read.
Kurlansky's research into Chinese salt practices was especially fascinating to me, and I have the feeling that with his skill he could devote an entire volume to that topic. I look forward to reading his book 'Cod', and anything else he writes.
Book Description
This is the ultimate photographic guide to the world of rocks and minerals, with a strong emphasis on how to build a diverse and colorful collection.
Customer Reviews:
Encyclopedia of Rocks and Minerals, a Review.......2007-03-21
I am the author of two books, "Collecting Fluorescent Minerals" and "The World of Fluorescent Minerals" and needed additional resources for non-fluorescent minerals. This book was nicely done - good illustrations, lots of variety, clearly written - but the information covering fluorescent minerals in this book was not very accurate. Every mineral collector needs several sources to get a good idea of what he or she has and this is one that I will continue to use. This should not be your only book, but it is worth having among your library.
Book Description
On the demand side, exporters and strategic planners approaching the world market face a number of questions. Which countries are supplying paraffin wax, microcrystalline petroleum wax, slack wax, ozokerite, lignite wax, peat wax, and similar waxes? What is the dollar value of these imports? How much do the imports of paraffin wax, microcrystalline petroleum wax, slack wax, ozokerite, lignite wax, peat wax, and similar waxes vary from one country to another? Do exporters serving the world market have similar market shares across the importing countries? Which countries supply the most exports of paraffin wax, microcrystalline petroleum wax, slack wax, ozokerite, lignite wax, peat wax, and similar waxes? Which countries are buying their exports? What is the value of these exports and which countries are the largest buyers? In what follows, Chapter 2 begins by summarizing the regional markets for imported and exported paraffin wax, microcrystalline petroleum wax, slack wax, ozokerite, lignite wax, peat wax, and similar waxes. The total level of imports and exports on a worldwide basis, and those for each region, is based on a model which aggregates across over 150 key country markets and projects these to the current year. From there, each country represents a percent of the world market. This market is served from a number of competitive countries of origin. Based on both demand- and supply-side dynamics, market shares by country of origin are then calculated across each country market destination. These shares lead to a volume of import and export values for each country and are aggregated to regional and world totals. In doing so, we are able to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of both the value of each market and the shares that countries are likely to receive this year. From these figures, rankings are calculated to allow managers to prioritize markets. In this way, all the figures provided in this report are forecasts that can be combined with internal information for strategic planning purposes.
Book Description
Think of all the rocks there are--the skipping rocks, the splashing rocks, and the chalk rocks. Whether the found treasures are climbing rocks or wishing rocks, children can't help collecting them. With joyful text and luminous photographs, If You Find a Rock celebrates rocks everywhere--as well as the mysterious and wonderful places they are found. •Features 18 hand-tinted photographic illustrations •Junior Library Guild Selection
Customer Reviews:
A WONDERFUL BOOK THAT STRUCK CLOSE TO HOME........2007-09-22
Since I was a little boy, long, long ago, I have had a fascination for rocks. As I grew older I cannot count the hours I have spent in creek beds, hill sides, fields and on dirt roads, first with my children, then with my four grandsons, looking for, talking about, wondering about and simply "seeing" rocks. This wonderful small volume says it all and captures the beauty of rocks and the beauty of children as they explore and expierence them. The lyrical prose/verse that tell the story of rocks is a pure joy to read. The photographs of children and rocks will touch anyone who who enjoys the company of small children and of rocks. Barbara Hirsch Lember has done a wonderful, artistic job with her camera and technique and Peggy Christian has given us some very impressive text. This is simply a well done and beautiful book and I am quite sure that you and your child or grandchild will get as much pure joy from it as I have. I do highly recommend you add this one to your library. I like another reviewer, first check this one out at the library but then went ahead and purchased my own copy. Read it and enjoy!
Seeing the World through a Child's Eyes.......2006-10-22
What a marvelous book. It grabs and hold your interest and the interest of my 1, 3, and 6 year old. We borrowed this from the library and today I am purchasing it online. This well written book shows the joy of rocks. Most of us have at one time or another have kicked a rock in front of us. Now you can learn why! Many of us have sat on a rock and now we see why it was such a perfect place to sit. Introduce your children to the wonders of the world around them with this exceptional book. Now I am on a mission to find any other books by this author. This is not a rock identification book, but rather a book that teaches observation and appreciation of rocks.
Terrific Inquiry-Based Lesson Starter!.......2002-08-02
This wonderful book is a great way to begin a lesson on rocks and minerals! It's imaginative and beautifully written. My third grade class loved it! I will use it every year to begin our inquiry-based science unit on rocks and minerals! The creative way to classify rocks was a very nice way to begin the topic of rocks and minerals with the students! We even started our own collection, using Christian's unique way of classifying them!
This rock book's a gem!.......2000-04-26
Wonderful prose, invitingly tempting pictures of children and rocks...my rock-crazy toddler loves having this book read to him. Who wouldn't love a book about the wonder of rocks?
Book Description
Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book, journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending adventure travel, geology, exciting new research, and her own irresistible charm, Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable, glamorous, and mysterious substances on earth.
With the same intense curiosity and narrative flair she displayed in her widely-praised book Color, Finlay journeys from the underground opal churches of outback Australia to the once pearl-rich rivers of Scotland; from the peridot mines on an Apache reservation in Arizona to the remote ruby mines in the mountains of northern Burma. She risks confronting scorpions to crawl through Cleopatra’s long-deserted emerald mines, tries her hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo bartered for sapphires, and investigates a rumor that fifty years ago most of the world’s amber was mined by prisoners in a Soviet gulag.
Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth’s mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power, and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond, to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured, to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond, Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.
Customer Reviews:
A rainbow of gems and an interesting read.......2007-03-06
With this book - which is effectively a sequel to her book on colour - Victoria Finlay investigates the history, myth and reality of the jewels we often place so much status on. She starts with Amber the softest of the semi-precious jewels and works her way through to Diamonds, which are much more common and not as indestructible as the jewellers and marketers would have us believe.
This is an interesting read, and while not exhaustive, will still manage to tell some new stories about gemstones even if you have read many other books on the subject. A combination of travel diary, history and general knowledge this book is educational and may make some readers view the stones in their jewel box in a new light. And as for "birth stones" - read the appendix at the end, it may open your eyes on one of the great marketing hoaxes.
Jewels - Not Only for Jewel Lovers .......2006-09-08
For anyone who is interested in the fascinating story of some of the worlds most popular types of jewels, this book is for you. For anyone who is interested in visiting little know and remote parts of our planet, this book is for you. For anyone who is interested in better understanding why people are mesmerized by beautiful objects and why other people undertake dangerous jobs to find them, this book is for you.
The author not only shares the fascinating history of how these jewels have been used throughout history but she tells the even more fascinating story of those who make their livings finding and selling them. Ms Finlay has not let distance or danger inhibit her desire to see first hand where the gems come from and to speak with those who spend, and often risk, their lives in their pursuit. Their stories are as interesting and varied as the stones themselves. Like Patrick Leigh Femor and other top travel writers, this author seems to be able to put almost anyone at ease and entice them to tell her their stories with amazing candor. She has then been able to blend historical facts and current circumstances into a really fascinating read.
For me, her quest was really to better understand why jewels which, while beautiful, are basically useless command so much time, effort and even in some cases human lives in their production. After reading this book I believe that each person will be able to form their own answer to this question.
Sparkling History.......2006-08-22
"It is an ordinary gemstone," writes Victoria Finlay of the sapphire in a ring given to her by her parents, "yet like most other ordinary gemstones it has a good story to tell, if you go looking for it." Go looking she does, not only for the story of that sapphire but for those of other gems, and yes, she found good stories and writes them up in _Jewels: A Secret History_ (Ballantine Books). Indeed, she values the stories more than the stones' rarity, perfection, or size. She set out to tell stories of nine different stones, from semi-precious to precious, and from two to ten on the Mohs hardness scale. The scale, invented in 1825 by mineralogist Freidrich Mohs, simply rates stones and other substances by what they can scratch and what scratches them; talc rates a one and diamond, the hardest substance known, rates a ten. Finlay ranges her chapters from softest stone to hardest: amber (Mohs somewhere between gypsum 2 and calcite 3), through jet, pearl, opal, peridot, emerald, sapphire, ruby, and finally diamond. (It is interesting that value tends to increase with hardness, indicating that we place a premium on durability.) Even the biggest stones, Finley notes, are objects that are really rather small, but the stories encompass great swaths of human history and technical expertise.
I will mention here only her quest for amber, for which she visits the Polish Baltic coast, a source for the stone. You may know the sticky sap that is oozed out when a pine tree is injured, and amber is the fossilized version of the same thing. Its origin is mysterious, because for amber to have become the geologic deposit as it is now found, huge numbers of evergreens (the species of tree is no longer with us) must have been hit with some sort of disease or other stress. Amber is the stuff that entrapped the mosquito that had dined on the blood of the dinosaur which yielded the DNA to build the monsters of the movie Jurassic Park. Its prices rose sharply when that movie came out in 1993, demonstrating our whimsical notions of value. Finlay goes to the University of Gdansk where is located the Museum of Amber Inclusions, and a guide indeed shows her insects trapped within. There is a particularly strange sample that looks like a long fly, only it has twelve legs; it turns out to be two flies caught by the sap during copulation. She attends the Amber-Washing Championships at Jantar, Poland, in the expectation that she would even herself be able to wade into the sea to fish out amber with the rest of the competitors, but finds that the sea no longer easily yields this treasure. Competitors on the beach were looking for amber pieces as big as shirt buttons planted by the organizers. "The whole thing was as exhilarating as a grape-peeling competition" she grumbles. The local supply of amber comes from a mine in an ex-Soviet Gulag "even bleaker than I had expected." It is a constant theme: gems may sparkle, full of richness, but the areas from which they are extracted are grimly impoverished.
Finlay has mined the historic literature for good stories; her debunking of the story of the curse of the Hope Diamond, for instance, is hilarious. She has also gone to the countries involved with each gem, and literally descended into the mines. She has funny stories, like being in a taxi stalled for an elephant parade in Sri Lanka (elephant parades are good for the sapphire business, as such a gem that has been worn on an elephant tusk is believed to have been blessed by Buddha himself). She has undergone no small amount of risk on these excursions. She has skillfully interviewed sometimes reticent subjects within the mines or within the business of bringing jewels to market, and employs judiciously the colorful anecdote. The historic and social results of our fascination for these useless rocks ("You can't eat them, you can't read them, you can't shelter under them ..." she quotes a Burmese taxi driver as saying) are on display here, as colorful and surprising as any of the gems themselves.
Book Description
Homer called salt a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. Today we take salt for granted, a common, inexpensive substance that seasons food or clears ice from roads, a word used casually in expressions ("salt of the earth," take it with a grain of salt") without appreciating their deeper meaning. However, as Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates in his world- encompassing new book, salt—the only rock we eat—has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind.
Until about 100 years ago, when modern chemistry and geology revealed how prevalent it is, salt was one of the most sought-after commodities, and no wonder, for without it humans and animals could not live. Salt has often been considered so valuable that it served as currency, and it is still exchanged as such in places today. Demand for salt established the earliest trade routes, across unknown oceans and the remotest of deserts: the city of Jericho was founded almost 10,000 years ago as a salt trading center. Because of its worth, salt has provoked and financed some wars, and been a strategic element in others, such as the American Revolution and the Civil War. Salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia and have also inspired revolution (Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India); indeed, salt has been central to the age-old debate about the rights of government to tax and control economies.
The story of salt encompasses fields as disparate as engineering, religion, and food, all of which Kurlansky richly explores. Few endeavors have inspired more ingenuity than salt making, from the natural gas furnaces of ancient China to the drilling techniques that led to the age of petroleum, and salt revenues have funded some of the greatest public works in history, including the Erie Canal, and even cities (Syracuse, New York). Salt's ability to preserve and to sustain life has made it a metaphorical symbol in all religions. Just as significantly, salt has shaped the history of foods like cheese, sauerkraut, olives, and more, and Kurlansky, an award-winning food writer, conveys how they have in turn molded civilization and eating habits the world over.
Salt is veined with colorful characters, from Li Bing, the Chinese bureaucrat who built the world's first dam in 250 BC, to Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas who, ignoring the advice of geologists, drilled an east Texas salt dome in 1901 and discovered an oil reserve so large it gave birth to the age of petroleum. From the sinking salt towns of Cheshire in England to the celebrated salt mine on Avery Island in Louisiana; from the remotest islands in the Caribbean where roads are made of salt to rural Sichaun province, where the last home-made soya sauce is made, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.
Customer Reviews:
Salt history is our history - quite a story.......2007-09-02
This is a truly enjoyable work that informs and fascinates. Who knew that the history of mankind was so closely tied to salt?
One example: the first trails made by animals returning to salt licks, and then by men hunting the animals.
Highly recommended.
Salt: A World History.......2006-07-24
A well written, interesting, fascinating book. I was constantly amazed at the extent of Kurlansky's research and the ability to make so many facts interesting and alive. This is really a history book seen through the eyes of salt but is no dry book full of obscure facts. This book has become one of the necessary classics in my library. Love it!!
Worth its weight in salt........2006-05-18
For the longest time, history in the Western genre was defined in terms of heroes (and the occasional heroines) and their nemesis. This "great man" version of history glorified individuals like Churchill, Caesar, Alexander, Napeleon, Washington, Constantine, Lincoln, Peter the Great, etc, etc... In the late 20th century, a new hot phrase has hit the social sciences: sustainable societies. Accompanied by recent advances in analytical techniques, scientists are now combing back through history with an eye on how human societies are affected by nature, and affect nature in turn. This in turn has spawned a new genre of historical literature that emphasizes man's relations to various objects in his natural environment. Typical works include "Guns, germs and steel", "History of the World in Six Glasses", "La Diva Nicotina", "Botany of Desire" etc, etc... A great example of this genre is this book by Mark Kurlansky, "Salt: A World History".
Written as a series of short chapters, this book traces the role of salt in the development of human societies around the world over the centuries. The book shows how the use of salt allowed food preservation to become entrenched within human society. This in turn increases survival rates of human communities throughout the whole calendar year, which in turn increased population densities and fostered the growth of culture. The book also shows how the importance of salt was reflected in its numerous uses; i.e money, signal of natural gas, etc...
Each chapter is readable in under an hour, and the whole book is readable in one weekend. The book is very interseting, and contains many interesting and often subtle facts. I highly recommend it.
Minor Fact Check .......2006-02-19
As a fan of this kind of history and a cooking enthusiast, I found this book very enjoyable reading, and would recommend it to anyone considering it.
I do have minor concerns about the factual accuracy of two of the tangential assertions or facts that Kurlansky offers. Not having any expertise I trust the core material of his book is factually accurate. However finding even a few small tangential factual inaccuracies detracts somewhat from that trust.
On p. 63 Kurlansky suggests that the latin word for salt was the etymological ancestor of the word soldier, but dictionary and online lookups suggest this is an error and that "soldier" actually derives instead from solidus, a Roman gold coin.
On p. 266 Kurlansky offers "...to George Edward Pickett, who later reached the most northerly point of any confederate in combat when, on July 3, 1863 he led a ruinous charge up a sloping Pennsylvania field -- the climax of the battle of Gettysburg." Even on the Gettysburg battlefield the point of Pickett's charge is by not nearly the most northerly point of the battle, and while Gettysburg was the most northerly "major" battle, it was not the most northerly (recognized) battle involving confederate forces. That is near Athens, MO. And various other sites contend for the distinction of being more northerly but less involved levels of engagement (e.g. Buffington Island; sites in the Dakotas; St. Albans, VT; Calais, ME; etc.)
Salterrific!!! Excellent read!!!!.......2006-01-03
Salt is well written... it opens with a short personal experience which hooked me.... the book covers the historical development/discovery/usage of salt... there is description on the various types of salt and how it is derived.... the author takes you on a globe trotting experince throughtout history...
if you are interested in history or books on everything about "one" thing ..then salt will appeal to you... I love this book!!!!! read it!!!!!! even if you hate reading!!!!
Average customer rating:
- A VISUAL FEAST!
- This book is isn't bad, It's meduim (Average).
|
Crystal and Gem (Eyewitness Books (Knopf))
R.F. Symes
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Chemistry
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Rocks & Minerals (DK Eyewitness Books)
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ASIN: 0679807810
Release Date: 1991-03-20 |
Book Description
Full-color photos. Learn about the formation and practical uses of crystals, semiprecious stones, and precious metals.
Customer Reviews:
A VISUAL FEAST!.......2001-01-09
The photographs of OVER 200 CRYSTALS AND GEMS is worth the purchase price of this book. And I am not just talking about ANY picture of each crystal, I am talking about a GORGEOUS, AMAZING sample picture of each crystal! Some of my favorite photographs/stones included are: Opals (My personal favorite stone ok, tied with Diamond!), Aragonite, Agate, Tourmaline, Calcite, Topaz, Barite, Hematite, Amethyst, Rose Quartz, The Blue Hope Diamond, Ruskin's Ruby, Moonstone, Spodumene, Blende, Natural Mosaic, Malachite, Gold, Mother-of-Pearl, Turquoise....I could go on forever!
Here are the chapters: WHAT IS A CRYSTAL? A WORLD OF CRYSTALS, NATURAL BEAUTY, CRYSTALS-OUTSIDE, ...AND INSIDE, THE COLOR OF CRYSTALS, IDENTIFICATION, NATURAL GROWTH, GOOD HABITS, DISCOVERY-RECOVERY, GROWING FROM SEED, CRYSTALS AT WORK, GOOD VIBRATIONS, QUARTZ, DIAMOND, CORUNDUM, BERYL, OPAL, OTHER GEMSTONES, COLLECTORS' ITEMS, STONES FOR CARVING, PRECIOUS METALS, ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE, WHAT IS IT WORTH?, MAKING THEM SPARKLE, LORE AND LEGENDS, CRYSTALS AT HOME AND INDEX.
This is a must-own if you have any interest in the marvelous beauty of crystals and gems. Not only are the photographs great but the information is succinct and fascinating! I highly recommend this book along with any other of the 109 in the Eyewitness series! Talk about something for everyone! Thanks Dr. Symes and Dr. Harding! Wow!
This book is isn't bad, It's meduim (Average)........1999-09-17
This book had a lot of Crystals and Gems that come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
Book Description
The collection of natural mineral crystals housed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the finest and best known in the world. Now the treasures of this singular collection are shown in resplendent photographs that will seduce both the connoisseur of beauty and the student of natural history.
The spectacular and rare specimens on display here, from a huge imperial topaz crystal weighing more than 2,000 carats to a crystallized gold cluster that is one of the most highly coveted objects in the mineral kingdom, are true masterpieces, the Rembrandts and Picassos of the natural world. Like fine art, minerals are prized for their aesthetic qualities-color, luster, sculptural composition-and for their provenance. Avidly pursued by naturalists throughout the centuries, precious metals and gem crystals have a fascinating history. Stories regarding the pursuit and discovery of these precious natural objects, including tales of good luck and hardship, are related in these pages. Essays that explore connoisseurship in the mineral kingdom and chronicle the history of this noble pursuit add to the appeal of this unique volume. AUTHOR BIO: Wendell E. Wilson is editor and publisher of The Mineralogical Record. Joel A. Bartsch is curator of gems and minerals at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Customer Reviews:
a treasury of great specimens.......2007-03-17
The specimens shown in this book from the Houston Museum are truly the top of their class. This is a coffee-table book for the mineral collector, and only falls short of a visit to the museum itself.
Masterpieces of the Mineral World.......2007-01-12
Excellent detail and photography. Very good section on attributes of mineral specimens, locations,and collections through the centuries.A wonderful table top book for everyone to enjoy.
Masterpieces is a masterpiece.......2004-12-26
Minerals and crystals are among the most beautiful objects on the planet. Their sculptural shapes and intense colors can be mesmerizing. Amazingly these specimens haven't been "enhanced" by cutting or polishing. They are as God made them. These magnificent photographs of the world's greatest collection capture their beauty as well as any book I've ever seen.
Customer Reviews:
A collector's guide to minerals.......2007-01-04
Stuart Schneider's THE WORLD OF FLUORESCENT MINERALS provides a lovely, color photo laden guide of different fluorescent minerals found around the world and displayed in both daylight and ultraviolet light. Nearly a thousand color photos pack descriptions which include both geological information and facts and a price guide of values. It's unusual to find a collector's guide to minerals let alone the rarer fluorescent minerals, making this a valuable reference.
Incredible fluorescent minerals.......2006-09-22
This book is a beauty! The photographs are first rate and the text is interesting and informative, while not overly technical. There are 997 color photographs showing the minerals in daylight and under the UV lamp. This should have been a hardcover book.
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