Customer Reviews

A Color Atlas of Rocks and Minerals in Thin Section

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is overpriced and almost useless. It only serves as eye candy for someone with exposure to the petrographic microscope. Outside of pictures it contains terse explanations and alot of blank wasted space.

I agree with the reviewer from Fairbanks: this book should not be confused with the Mackenzie and Guilford atlas. The Atlas of *Rocks* and Minerals tries to be too comprehensive (by including both rocks and minerals) and in doing so has lost all of the information about less common and accessory minerals that was in the Mackenzie and Guilford text. Of course, much of what's in both books is now available on the Web, but it's still hard to find large format color photos like the ones in Mackenzie and Guilford.

Another (less expensive) alternative is A.R. Philpotts' "Petrography of Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks." In my experience as a student and then a TA in a mineralogy course, Philpotts' book does a better job of pointing out the distinctive characteristics of minerals than do the photographic atlases.

The book is written in a consise and well laid out manner. As the previous writer stated, the colour photos are priceless and are exactly as you would see looking through a petrological microscope both in crossed polars and thin section

Color Atlas of Rocks and Minerals in Thin Section with Student Survey Set

Maybe it is just me, but when I think of "student survey set" in conjunction with a small paperback priced at over $70.00, I am expecting to get a few thin sections that I can view under a polarizing light microscope...

What I really received with the book was a marketing survey - something you would have to pay me to fill out - not something that I would ever pay money to receive... grrr.

As far as the text, I like it, but will likely return the one I ordered "with the student survey set", and find a less expensive used version. Like another reviewer said - it is just the basics. I did like that the author refers the reader to other pages in his text, if there is a chance that the reader is not familiar with a term used. For example, "...Becke Line (see page 20)".

This atlas does not have as many different samples represented (about 30) compared to around 100 for the Atlas of rock-forming minerals in thin section by W.S. Makenzie & C. Guilford, but the color in the images is more brillant, and I wanted a reference that I could compare a "rock" thin section image to a "mineral" thin section... I'm not sure there is much of a difference since minerals are always in rocks anyway, but comparing an Olivine-rich Basalt from Greenland in the Guilford version to just plain Olivine in the Adams version (both samples are from Greenland), the images are different. That is what I was hoping to accomplish by purchasing both books - a chance to see how one mineral's appearance can vary.

The W.S. MacKenzie & Guilford atlas is even more expensive, but at least it does not try to pass itself off as coming with a "student survey set".

I think the best idea is to look for both of these books used, or go with the Philpott book that another reviewer mentions.

i'm a second year geology student and this book was an excellent companion during mineralogy and petrology labs

I believe this book is ideal for a second year University student to learn to identify rocks and common forming minerals under the microscope.
Regardless of earlier critics, this book is only intended as a help to identify common minerals and nothing else. I personally found it very useful, the colour images are worth more than a thousand printed words.

good deal on my book purchase but it seriously took 3+ weeks for my book to arrive.