Rocks, Gems and Minerals: A Fully Illustrated, Authoritative and Easy-to-Use Guide (A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press)

I bought this for my 13 yr old grandson but with all the information, illustrations and locations of where to find everything it is perfect for any enthusiast wanting to take along. It is small enough as a paperback but the pix are large enough to help the beginner or more experienced alike. This is is very helpful and my grandson loved it.

I always like the Golden Books series as a kid. I was recently rock collecting in Arkansas and thought of these books. I got Rocks Gems and Minerals and it is really an excellent little guide for basic knowledge.

I loved these Golden Guides as a kid and have been buying them for my children. I'm very pleased with the content, illustrations, and layout. I sneak one from the kid's bookshelves once in a while.

These were gift books for beginning rock hunters. This field guide has great color pictures and illustrations. Learn about minerals and gems and then be inspired to go hunting! I bought these for grandkids who love rocks. More fun than classroom studying!

I am a science teacher and I have used this book in the classroom. It is an excellent guide for beginners. Minerals are classified in 4 practical categories: Metallic, Nonmetallic, Gem, Rock Forming. This is more user friendly than the chemical classifications used by geologists. The economic uses of each mineral are also mentioned. There is a section describing the various tests used to identify minerals (some of the professional tests shown here are not found in any other guide). The chapters on rocks are not as extensive as I would like. Many rock types are not included. But it provides a solid intro. Economic minerals including soil, fossil fuels, clay, and gravel make this a well rounded book.

The information in this book is outstanding, and the price is certainly very reasonable. The illustrations are a bit old school, they're drawings not hi-res photos. But you can easily google any of the rocks and minerals and get dozens of hi-res photos, so that's not a real problem unless you're out in the middle of the Nevada desert without internet access looking for rare minerals, lol.

It is a smaller book but I like that about it because it is easy to put in a pocket/backpack/bag to take it with you for identifying. I bought it for my nephew, it is great for little hands and has nice colored pages.

very small in size but informative.

Excellent Book

Apropiado para estudiantes de los minerales, libro de bolsillo muy completo y a todo color

Book is a great size for your pocket. Nice pictures. Not quite as much info as I was looking for on regular rocks.