Gems and Crystals: From the American Museum of Natural History

by George E. Harlow, Anna S. Sofianides, Harold Van Pelt (Photographer)

Discusses the properties, history, lore, and sources of gems

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 1991

Reviews

[Marylisa Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the stories about the gems. I've visited this collection in person many times and I always wanted more information than the placards provided. The photos in the book are gorgeous. It's a coffee table worthy book!

[Fantods · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures were good, but I felt there were too few. This book tried to tell the history of too many facets of gem history, including their medicinal and magical qualities, the history of science's understanding of them, the history of some individual gems, the donation history of the museum that supplied the photographs, the social and economic and mining histories... It felt like it only skimmed the surface of each topic and didn't mine any of them deeply enough. It did have excellent material about crystalline structure, refraction, the difference between gemstones and rocks, etc.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not read every single word of this, but I read many of the words and enjoyed the gorgeous full-colour pictures of various gems and crystals. A really lovely coffee table book that I'm putting under 'popular science' since it did have some good gemological facts along with the beautiful pictures.

[RumBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book, with amazing photographs. Divided up into sections, each dealing with a different gem or mineral, the authors went into detail about the composition, history, artistic value and legends and lore surrounding each gem or crystal.

At times, the science and chemical composition portion got a little too detailed, sounding more like a textbook. However, the information about color, the famous gems, and the legends made up for it.

The photography was extra ordinary. Each gem, or collection of gems, was shown off is such a vivid, vibrant way.

If you like gems and crystals, or are interested in geology in any way, this book will be enjoyable.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this would be *just* another book of pretty pictures. It is that, but it is so much more. I love the history and the legends and lore sections. The book contains beautiful photos of the gems and crystals and a lot of entertaining information. I thoroughly enjoyed it.