An authoritative and practical identification guide to minerals, rocks and fossils of the world. This new edition of a classic reference work has been completely revised, updated and redesigned, with new extended introductory sections and appendices. An invaluable handbook for amateur collectors and specialists alike, this book is small and compact enough to carry in the pocket or backpack. Over 600 specimens in full colour Every specimen described and illustrated on the same double-page spread Over 300 line drawings identifying structures and features"
This is a very usefull tool if you are studying mineralogy, petrography and even paleontology. It has a great deal of information about the samples, it gives precise key for the determination of the minerals/ rocks and even has some mentions about the confusions that one could make when trying to identify a mineral. The fossil sections is quite extensive and presents the main genra that a student could came accros. I used it for my practical exams and I am still using it for the samples from my web museum.
For as much as I love geology and rocks, nature and things of the earth, this book hasn't kept my interest too much. I'll keep it on hand as a reference book, but I won't be finishing it anytime soon, as it doesn't read like a good story. One thing this book could have done to benefit the reader would have been to give a correct pronunciation for so many of the words. I often found myself reading the word out loud a few times as to how it is said properly.