Magic of Minerals and Rocks, featuring 135 splendid color photographs, ranges from vast rock-landscapes recorded in Europe, America, Australia, and Iceland right down to finely detailed images of a few square millimeters. Close-ups of crystals, gems, and fossils are alternated with micro-images of the minute textures and patterns that emerge from thin, translucent sections of rocks and minerals. Literally, as well as figuratively Dirk Wiersma, the photographer, 'zooms in' on the subject matter, leading the reader deeper into various spaces of surprising new forms and perspectives, at times abstract, at other times (pseudo)realistic. Often, striking similarities are revealed between subjects that are ostensibly of entirely different natures and dimensions. The short, accompanying texts are written in a style that is accessible and appealing to a general audience, while also providing the necessary factual information.
From reviews of the Dutch-language edition -
"...a stunningly illustrated guide to rocks, crystals, geodes, fossils, minerals and all manner of other things geological." Nature
"This beautifully illustrated large "library table book"... (is) a worthwhile treasure for browsing... Just wait until you see Wiersma’s oftentimes breathtakingly colorful photographs and his microphotographs..." HGS Bulletin
"I never saw a geological book like this, and I probably never will again... It is not just a photo book: one should rather consider it an art book. Photographs as an expression of art; and art with the earth sciences as the object.... They show how well Wiersma manages to discover the beauty of the earth..." J. Sedimentary Research
From the reviews:
"The author tries to show the beauty of his scientific world to a broad and general public. I think he really succeeded ... covering the whole gamma of his working field. As a geologist he shows us ... landscapes of splendid rocks and forms, the result of geological processes as mountain formation and erosion. ... The merit of the book is the skilful photography and the very artistic composition of the images ... ." (Herman Goethals, Geologica Belgica, Vol. 8(1-2), 2005)
"This book brings together the author’s fascinations for geology and photography. The photographs range over a scale from whole landscapes down to the microscopic. In the field the rocks can be seen in their natural settings – in mountains, outcrops, riverbeds, on the coast and in quarries. ... On the microscopic scale there is yet another universe with finer details and abstractions. ... There is a short explanatory text to accompany the plates." (Book News on the Internet, January, 2005)
"Photo-artist Wiersma gets up close to geological sparklers and captures them lovingly on large format film. The result is a treasure trove, as his trained eye reveals details, colours, textures and relationships that most of us either miss or take for granted. ... This is an ideal present for a geologist, and more serious photographers will appreciate it too." (Nick Chang, Focus, October, 2004)
