Perfect for mountain climbers and hikers, this valuable reference covers more rocks and minerals in North America than any other available guide. 794 full-color photographs depict all the important rocks, gems, and minerals -- in many variations of color and crystal form -- and the natural environments in which they occur; written descriptions provide information on field marks, similar rocks and minerals, environment, areas of occurrence, and derivation of names. Includes a guide to mineral collecting and a list of rock-forming minerals
The Audobon Society sure knows its rocks. The Guide breaks rocks into three categories: igneous, sedementary, and metamorphic, and has lots of full color pictures of specimens of each type. The only complaints I have about the book are that it's too fat to fit in my pocket and many of the precious and semi-precious stones have been either cut or cleaned up so the pictures won't be that useful for identifying them in the wild.
I had this book since I was a child and it has brought great joy throughout the years; well mainly when I was a youngster. This book and all the other field guides that Alfred A. Knopf published are fantastic, I own 4 myself and all are just as great as this one.
Very informative guide book. The layout is user friendly for helping to identifying specimens by color,shape,hardness,association with other minerals and,or rock types.
After spending more time studying this field-guide more thoroughly, I have revised my original rating from a 4 to 5.
Very useful for what I checked it out for! The photos used for all the minerals, gemstones and rocks were detailed and very useful. I'm glad I grabbed it from the library :-)