Allan Pring

Reed, S. J. B. 2005. Electron Microprobe Analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy in Geology: 2nd ed. xiii + 192 pp. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Price £35.00, US

This is the second edition of Steven Reed’s popular introductory text on electron microprobe analysis and scanning electron microscopy and is aimed, as the title indicates, at students and researchers in geology. The book is a much less mathematical treatment of the subject than his book Electron Microprobe Analysis (also published by CUP in 1993) which is widely acknowledged as the definitive work on the subject. …

70.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 521 84875 X.

Agates are a fascinating and beautiful form of cryptocrystalline quartz and are very popular with gem and mineral collectors and indeed with the general public. This book is aimed at this popular market and is lavishly illustrated, but also contains something for the professional interested in the formation of silica. The volume gives an introduction to agates and then covers the major collecting regions with some emphasis on deposits in Britain and the …

R. Pabian, B. Jackson, P. Tandy & J. Cromartie 2006. Agates. Treasures of the Earth. 184 pp. London: The Natural History Museum. Price £16.99 (hard covers). ISBN 0 565 09195 6.

Understanding the processes of crystal growth from solutions and melts is central to many aspects of geology and also to a wide variety of industrial processes. This new book by Professor Sunagawa aims to give a comprehensive and up to date overview of crystal nucleation and growth. The book sets out to explain how crystal form and habit are products of growth history and that the mechanisms of growth are recorded in various ways. The book is a distillation of the author’s experience in over half a century’s research on crystal growth. The first part of the book covers the fundamental concepts and contains …

SUNAGAWA, I. 2005. Crystals. Growth, Morphology and Perfection. xii + 295 pp. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Price £55.00, US

This is a new edition of Dana’s Manual of Mineralogy . Cornelis Klein has extensively reorganized and revised the previous, 21st, edition published in 1993, and given the text a new name. The emphasis of the book is now very much on crystal chemistry and a crystal chemical treatment of the rock-forming minerals. The identification of rock-forming minerals by hand specimen study is also covered in considerable detail. Professor Klein comments in the preface that the revisions have been undertaken in an attempt to reflect recent changes in the emphasis of many …

95.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 521 84189 5

This book is a new volume in the Oxford University Press series of photographic guides and is aimed primarily at the serious amateur geologist. It is a compact guide to mineral identification in hand specimen with the aid of a hand lens, so detailed optical properties and topics such as X-ray diffraction are not covered. The book starts with a short section explaining what is meant by a mineral and how they are named. …

KLEIN, C. 2003. The 22nd Edition of the Manual of Mineral Science. xii + 644 pp. + CD-ROM. New York, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Price £38.95 (hard covers). ISBN 0 471 42767 5

The use of rocks and minerals by early civilizations is a very human face to our science. The current volume aims to provide a systematic overview of minerals and rocks that have been used from prehistoric times though to the 17th Century. In the preface the author states that the book is aimed at scholars and students from both geological and archaeological backgrounds. The scope and content of the book are based on Professors Rapp’s experience both as an active …

JOHNSEN, O. 2002. Photographic Guide to Minerals of the World. Oxford Natural History Series. First published in Danish in 2000 as Mineralernes Verden. 439 pp. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Price £17.99 (hard covers). ISBN 0 19 851568 5.

The need to understand the relationships between parts of the natural world led Linnaeus to devise classification schemes for plants and animals in the second half of the 18th Century. He later expanded his system to cover the mineral kingdom. J. J. Berzelius developed the first chemical classification of minerals in 1824 and Gustav Rose later extended this to incorporate aspects of crystal structure in 1852. Chemical classification was adopted by James Dana in the fourth edition of his System of Mineralogy , published in 1854, and subsequently by most other authors in the second half of the 19th Century. These crystal chemical classification principles were further developed in the light of the …

Rapp, G. 2002. Archaeomineralogy.: xii + 326 pp. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag. Price Euros 79.95 (+ VAT at local rate), SFr 133.00, £56.00, US

This dictionary of gems and gemology aims to be a comprehensive dictionary for gemologists, mineralogists, geologists, gem dealers and hobbyists. The volume contains definitions of over 16 000 gemological and mineralogical terms. The entries range in length from three or four words to over 500 words and some 250 entries are augmented by diagrams. This book is not …

89.95 (hard covers). ISBN 3 540 42579 9.

Introduction to Mineralogy by William Nesse is a new undergraduate mineralogy textbook from Oxford University Press. The book aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the chemistry, structure and properties of minerals for undergraduate courses in geology. The book is divided into three parts. The first, ‘Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry’, contains chapters on basic crystallography, crystal chemistry, crystal structure and crystal growth. The latter chapter is a simple, but very useful, introduction to the basic concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics. The second section, ‘Mineral …Introduction to Mineralogy by William Nesse is a new undergraduate mineralogy textbook from Oxford University Press. The book aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the chemistry, structure and properties of minerals for undergraduate courses in geology. The book is divided into three parts. The first, ‘Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry’, contains chapters on basic crystallography, crystal chemistry, crystal structure and crystal growth. The latter chapter is a simple, but very useful, introduction to the basic concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics. The second section, ‘Mineral …

S TRUNZ , H. & N ICKEL , E. H. 2002. Strunz Mineralogical Tables. Chemical Structural Mineral Classification System , 9th ed. ix + 870 pp. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. Price Euros 148.00 (hard covers). ISBN 3 510 65188 X

Introduction to Mineralogy by William Nesse is a new undergraduate mineralogy textbook from Oxford University Press. The book aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the chemistry, structure and properties of minerals for undergraduate courses in geology. The book is divided into three parts. The first, ‘Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry’, contains chapters on basic crystallography, crystal chemistry, crystal structure and crystal growth. The latter chapter is a simple, but very useful, introduction to the basic concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics. The second section, ‘Mineral …Introduction to Mineralogy by William Nesse is a new undergraduate mineralogy textbook from Oxford University Press. The book aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the chemistry, structure and properties of minerals for undergraduate courses in geology. The book is divided into three parts. The first, ‘Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry’, contains chapters on basic crystallography, crystal chemistry, crystal structure and crystal growth. The latter chapter is a simple, but very useful, introduction to the basic concepts of thermodynamics and kinetics. The second section, ‘Mineral …