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Review of National Audubon Society Pocket Guide: Familiar Rocks & Minerals of North America
New York: Alfred Knopf, 1988 (3rd printing, 2000). ISBN 0-394-75794-7
This
little book really
does deserve to have a page devoted to it. The photographers used "real
world" mineral specimens in the photographs. You can actually take
rocks
you've found, look at the pictures in this book, and have a meaningful
comparison. In other words, the photos aren't of high-end or museum
specimens
(which are of course beautiful to look at). A common
drawback of
mineral "field guides" is that they show the best-formed, largest,
shiniest, and / or most color-saturated specimens of the minerals. This
can
leave the beginning collector puzzled about which mineral he / she has
really
found. Familiar Rocks & Minerals of North America, on the
other
hand, does a good job of showing representative samples. I especially
like the
photo of wollastonite - it resembles something you might find
in the
Franklin Marble. I also really like the depictions of epidote, spinel,
diopside, pyrrhotite, and kyanite- to name only a few.This
Pocket Guide
provides excellent photographs which show minerals as they usually
occur: crystal edges aren't perfect, dirt and discoloration is in them,
the
minerals are in massive form, their coloration is weak or nondescript,
etc.
Many of the photos in the book also appear to have been taken with
magnification, which illustrates another point: perfect, two-centimeter
crystals are a rarity in most mineral localities, but these same places
are
often home to superb micro-crystals that are revealed with some
low-power
magnification.We don't
even carry this
book- but I liked it so much that I wanted to review it for our
visitors who
might be looking for a good pictorial guide. I also figured that,
sooner or
later, the author(s) and photographers (Wolfgang Vogt, et al.) might wander
across this website and see that someone appreciates their work. This book
is worth
having. Retail price is US $9.00 (your local bookstore ought to carry
it). Looking for chemicals to perform mineral assays? Email your name and address for a free catalog & price list... ammonium molybdate, cobalt nitrate, potassium bisulfate, salt of phosphorus, etc., etc.
We also carry platinum wire, charcoal blocks, microscopes, and many other items.
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