Minerals (Barron's Nature Guide)

This Barron's guide is a new kind of book for identifying minerals, one that even beginners can use to make quick, sure identifications. The simple, easy-to-understand profiles are supplemented by sketches of crystals made by the author especially for this book and based on the most up-to-date crystallographic data. It is a field guide to mineral deposits, categorized by color and degree of hardness for fast, easy identification.

Can you tell cacoxenite from walpurgite? If not, this new field guide will help you identify approximately 300 minerals by using two key tests: streak and hardness. Hochleitner's opening definition of what minerals are leads into a discussion of various properties: hardness, tenacity, density, streak, color, and cleavage. This is followed by sections on crystal forms, origins, modes of occurance, and gemstones.

Each section on identification is based on the color seen when the streak test is done. Within each streak, ranking is by the hardness test. Every entry has at least one color photo adjacent to the listing. The listing is short, giving the mineral's particular identifying features. Some are accompanied with drawings of the crystal. The book closes with brief sections on finding and organizing specimens and a short glossary.

This work compares favorably with other popular guides on minerals; Schumann's Minerals of the World [RBB S 1 92], which has a similar organization, and the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, which has a key by visual color, hardness, and cleavage. Both of these books mention places where the minerals have been found, not just rock-deposit type as Hochleitner does. Minerals is straightforward, easy to use, and visually appealing. Those public and school libraries not owning Minerals of the World, or where use of guides is heavy, will want to consider adding a copy.