Rocks, Minerals & Gemstones

By I.O.Evans
The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd
1972 ISBN 0-600-37537-4

The Hamlyn Publishing Group writes:

Everybody, at one time or another, has stopped in their tracks, bent down and picked up a beautifully colored or curiously shaped fragment of stone and marveled at the artistry of nature. Prehistoric man was no exception and it was not long before he realized too, the many uses to which he could put the rocks, their minerals and the gemstones. Since then man has become more and more dependent on the minerals he extracts from the Earth’s crust and today these and their derivatives make up a bewildering variety of familiar everyday objects—from out nuts and bolts and diamond rings to our computers and supersonic jet aircraft. In fact civilization as we known it is completely reliant on rocks and minerals and so their importance in our lives, and the effect that the depletion of mineral resources could have on our future, is considerable.

This book presents a broad illustrated survey of the rocks, their constituent minerals and the gemstones. The nature of the rocks, their composition and the way in which they affect the build of the countryside is discussed first (including a consideration of rocks from outer space), and then the extraction techniques of the more important mineral ores are explained, together with a summary of mineral characteristics and the various crystal systems in which minerals form. A selection of the most important and most interesting minerals then follows and details are given for each of its properties, mode of occurrence, characteristics and uses. Gemstones are discussed at length and interesting aspects range from fascinating details of diamond extraction and cutting to descriptions of gemstones of organic origin. A final very useful section deals with the practical possibilities for the rock and mineral enthusiast and includes much advice on how to collect, identify and enjoy mineral specimens.

A very readable, non-technical text is supplemented by a fine collection of over one hundred excellent photographs, thirty of which are in full color.