Peterson First Guide to Rocks and Minerals

by Frederick H. Pough

Book Overview

Written and designed for the beginner, this book describes and illustrates the most common and interesting rocks and minerals, from simple sandstone to exotic gems. Illustrated with dozens of beautiful color photographs, it tells how these rocks and minerals formed and how to identify them--and includes tips on collecting.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395935431
• ISBN13: 9780395935439
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 3.7" x 7.2"
• Age Range: 11 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 6 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great beginner resource

As a hobbyist I was looking for a good book to start off with. I found this book to be a great starting place. The introduction is clear and provides enough details to set the stage for understanding the rest of the material. There are photographs of each type of rock and mineral presented. The rocks and minerals are presented in a clear and concise manner with just enough information to give the reader a general idea of the chemical composition, physical description, and typical locations for each item discussed. I also found the writing style of this book pleasant and enjoyable to read.

To the point, basics, and a lot of examples.

This book is small, easily fits into your pocket, sturdy for its tall size, and filled with brilliant photos or examples with short descriptions as the pages go on. As a direct read it is a quickie, but it is also a decent reference guide to the most common rocks, metals, and crystals. It discusses basic geology and the formation of the planet and what makes our elements, it gives to-the-point single paragraphs on a lot of basic material. This would be a great guide to the starting geologist or student hungering for a hobby.

Rocks and Minerals

Good, handy guide to have. Great seller, fast shipping, accurate description. Well done!! Greg Martin

Rocks and Minerals

I found it to be very helpful for my students since we don't always have an opportunity to get out and actually see these rocks, etc.

My review

I'm really in to rocks now so I don't want a guide on how rocks are formed I want a guide of what the look like, how hard they are, and other stuff. peace out