Nature Guide: Rocks And Minerals (Nature Guides) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
The new DK Nature Guides form a comprehensive, accessible, and informative series of illustrated reference books that tackle key natural history subjects in DK's uniquely visual style. Produced in collaboration with expert consultants at the Smithsonian Institution, each guide is expertly written and will give you knowledge of the natural world at your fingertips. From blue schist to blue granite, malachite to meteorites, and taconite to travertine, Nature Guide Rocks and Minerals is packed full of stunning images that reveal intricate details and unique characteristics of each rock and mineral. Using close-up photographs of every specimen and profiles containing examples from all over the world, Nature Guide Rocks and Minerals brings revealing key facets and details perfect for quick identification.
Series: Nature Guides
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: DK (June 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780756690427
ISBN-13: 978-0756690427
ASIN: 0756690420
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #199,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #57 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Field Guides > Rocks & Minerals #87 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences > Rocks & Minerals #279 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Reference
I already have three other rock&mineral books. So why get yet another one?1) every book is organized slightly differently, and they present the data on the matrial differently,2) the pictures are of course different, that is they provide an alternate view of a particular mineral/rock - this is the main reason I get more than one book. It very much helps identify a rock or mineral , especially since many can have quite a varying appearance due to size of grain, cruystals, color, and secondary minerals/rocks giving a speciment sometimes a dramatically different look.3) not to mention that every book has a selection of stones not found in the others4) and last but not least - What I really like about this one is how they have little pointers around the picture detailing these secondary minerals, AND often include smaller secondary picture with variations, AND often show a polished/faceted version (if it is gem/jewelry material).This book is definitely a good one for beginners, young and old alike.
It's not going to have every mineral or rock, but 344 pages covers the essentials. Well illustrated and explained in simple language. The crystal shapes are best examined with samples from a rock shop.The index is good. You look up a term such as feldspar or cryolite, it will be there. Two or three pages of introduction explain each section.There are a few other well illustrated books in this style with more data, but I have found most of them somewhat poorly edited.The Audubon field guide will have the most data, but has separate pictures and text sections.
This Rocks and Minerals guide has good pictures and a great amount of information on each rock/mineral/etc. for a compact size, and I would give it 5 stars for content, but I find it lacking a bit for use as a field identification guide, which is what I mainly wanted it for. Entries are organized first into chapters such as sulfide minerals, oxide minerals, halide minerals, silicates, igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, gemstones, etc. with e.g. mineral chapters grouped together and rock chapters grouped together. There is an index so if you know or have a pretty good idea what it is you're looking at you can look it up.However, I can't make sense of how entries are organized beyond the chapter level. They do not seem to follow any particular order. In some cases they seem to be "roughly" grouped by e.g. metal (like silver-based minerals may be together), or by hardness, or by crystal habit, but it is inconsistent even within one chapter (you won't actually find all the silver-based minerals together, or the hardness in order, or all the cubic habits together, etc). Nor is there any index or search key based on these properties. Thus, if you pick up a hunk/crystal of some mineral there is no way (that I can see) to actually use the book to identify the mineral short of comparing the properties to each entry one by one. It would be much more useful as a field guide if (at least) each chapter were sorted in some way so that one could quickly find entries within a given hardness range or crystal shape, etc. As is, such properties for identifying a mineral are only useful for comparison to a given entry, but not for finding entries matching any given property.There may be a sorting order here that I'm just missing, but if there is one (it's not even in alphabetical order) then the intro does not explain what that ordering is. I can only guess so far that it's semi-random within any given chapter.
Bought to my autistic grandson. He is really into rocks. Picture are large and gives allot of info. He loved it. He is 11 yrs old.
This book actually helped to id a rock I found and to log it correctly. This rock was a great find and now I know what it is.
This is a GREAT book for someone just starting in the hobby (like me). Good quality photos, plenty of info for the size of book. I also have the earlier version of the book that is a little shorter, and this one has more info regarding rocks and natural items such as coral than the earlier one. I enjoy leafing through both copies! It does, though, leave the novice with questions, such as how does one actually FIND these minerals. BUT, that is when you move onto a more specialized book, I guess.
I purchased this book for my 11 year old grandson who fancies himself a future geologist. He is intrigued by the beautiful pictures and has spent hours reading about his favorites. The problem is that the descriptions and information are too advanced for our purpose. He wanted to identify basic rocks that you find in the yard and some common minerals. The illustrations and photographs while beautiful are certainly not those of what can be found in a back yard. I would recommend this book for an adult without reservation, just not a child.
I loved this book! The book itself is hardcover and very sturdy, with thick glossy pages. The pictures were gorgeous and the amount of minerals included in this book is immense. There is tons of information about each mineral as well, including some fun facts and varieties of that mineral. The only criticism I have is that every mineral pictured is considered gem-quality, and typically are very rare to find them in that state in the field. This can make identification tricky directly from this book.
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