FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[John S. White]

I have not been in a good book shop for a long time so I am not familiar with what is available in the way of a very good introductory mineralogy book for beginning collectors. Would some of our regulars care to recommend books that they feel are worthwhile? There are many inferior ones out there (in English, anyway).

[gemlover]

I have found the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals" to be good. ISBN 0-394-50269-8 It has sections of properties and identification, localities and many, many, many color plates of specific rocks and minerals. Soft cover (vinyl not paper).

John

[Pete Modreski]

And my personal favorite is and has always been, the Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals, Peterson Field Guide Series (by Frederick Pough, with photos by Jeff Scovil). It's not just because of my old dog-eared copy, first mineral guide I ever purchased (not counting the Golden Nature Guide to Rocks & Minerals, which I also always recommend to kids and beginning adults!), autographed by Fred Pough himself year later. It's a very good book that describes identification tests and environments of how minerals occur, as well as the mineral descriptions; and I think the most recently updated editon (5th, 1996) retains the good points of the earlier ones, and has added good photos and updated occurrence information.

[Jordi Fabre]

Recommended reading: Creating the ultimate library for beginner collectors

[Pierre Joubert]

And from a Southern African perspective, an excellent work by Bruce Cairncross, titled 'Field guide to Rocks and Minerals of Southern Africa'