Customer Reviews

Crystal Bible 2

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although Judy Hall's books don't generally do it for me, I do recommend both volumes of the Crystal Bible. In fact, bypass all her other recent works for these two. It will be more complete than juggling three or four volumes.

This book is like many of her others, with listings of hundreds of stones and their many different forms. The entries are a little bit more simplified than in the first volume, and there is no easy summary of the properties of any stone. The strength of this work is that it is arranged alphabetically, rather than by colour, wherein several of her others are less user-friendly for the opposite reason. There are still some misnomers and photographs that are not exactly representative of the crystal being defined, as well as a seemingly missing understanding of the mineralogical properties of the specimens being described. Some of the entries appear to be inconsistent and incongruent with those around them. This is possibly an error in publishing, and a second printing or edition may have these errata corrected.

This volume contains more than two hundred stones not mentioned in volume one. To my knowledge there are no repeats from said volume. the book covers a lot of formations and findings that are very recent and otherwise unpublished about. Several stones have their trade names used, which do not reflect the mineral being described, and others are merely tyographically incorrect (i.e. "Brandenberg" where Brandberg should be used).

With some simple and effective introductory chapters regarding the history and lore of the mineral kingdom, and New Age crystal topics such as grids, new areas of mining, and stones with high frequencies, you'll find that this book is a nice companion to any crystal library.

I am usually a fan of Judy Hall's books, they are a good reference even though at times they can be a bit too New Agey for my liking. The information is usually correct, but I noticed with this book there are several bits of information that is incorrect.
Examples:
Blue Moonstone is only found in Russia, this is incorrect Sri lanka is one of the finest producers of this stone
Paraiba Tourmaline comes from Brazil, Nigeria and Mozambique. Paraiba Tourmaline only comes from Paraiba Brazil...everything else is just Tourmaline
Herkimer Diamonds come from New York, Himalayas and China. Same with the Paraibas, Herkimer Diamonds only come from Herkimer New York, anything else is a double Terminated Quartz.

It is mainly little things like locations that are incorrect, but since this is a book that people are turning to for information it should be correct and properly researched.

This was the only problem I had with this book, the photos, layout and other features I found useful.

A nice supplement to the Crystal Bible which was one of my first crystal/mineral books and is still one of my favorites. However... I'm not as complete of a fan of Crystal Bible 2 as I am of the original. Some (and I'm saying only some) of the info seems quite hastily put together, and in my opinion isn't a complete description of the attributes of that particualr crystal or mineral. There's one in there that I don't agree with at all from my personal work with that mineral, but I choose not to mention which one that is in this forum. I've also noticed a couple of unusual spellings for names of a particular crystal or mineral.

One thing in particular I'd like to point out. Septarian is a combination of Calcite, Bentonite and Aragonite, not Calcite, Aragonite, and Chalcedony...but I suppose that could depend on who you ask. My gut still says the first combination of minerals is correct.

Now that I've aired my concerns a bit, I will say that I'm not unhappy with this book. Perhaps my personal knowledge and skills have just developed beyond the point of being able to accept everything said by Judy as 100% complete and accurate. I think it's a good reference tool, but I would not use as my *only* reference tool. I'm not sorry I purchased this book, would do so again, and have already recommended it to others.

I have seen the previous book in stores and from friends and was just about to buy a copy when I saw this new version would be available. I pre-ordered it and wasn't disappointed, with all the extra stones and crystals it makes you wonder how many more you can pack into a book this size? All the bible series of books are very valuable resources and this one more so, in particular, would love to see this available as a DVD with a more comprehensive index or accompanied with a DVD to allow you to write papers from.
Well deserved five stars.

This new 400 page book from 2009 covers over 200 additional healing stones, including recently revealed Greenland stones. It begins with a 4-page alphabetical listing of stones by name and their corresponding page number. There are introductory pages on crystal vibrations, crystal history, crstal structure, crystal protection, and the Greenland stones in pages 10 through 33, one of which is Nuummite. (I have a piece wrapped in silver and paired with topaz. My friend Jay, who wraps my stones for me, said the Nuummite kind of wrapped itself in her hands, and it did a beautiful job. Interestingly, it wrapped itself in a beautiful Victorian setting, something Jay has never done before. "Coincidentally," Nuummite is said to be one of the oldest materials on Earth.) The crystal directory begins on page 35.

Beautiful good-quality colored pictures of the stones, many shown in both raw and tumbled/polished form (which look very different), as well as some in crystal form: Botswana, Crackled Fire Agate, Alexandrite, Astrophyllite, Cacoxenite, Golden Danburite, Eudialyte, etc. And there are many I have never heard of before: Agrellite, Blood of Isis, Calligraphy Stone, Datolite, Fulgarite, Kakortokite, to name a few.

An example is a 2 page spread on Merlinite, shown as both a shaped raw piece and a polished cabochon. A chart indicates:
Color: Black & white
Appearance: Tendril-like, two color opaque or translucent stone, may have opalescent sheen
Rarity: Easily obtained
Source: New Mexico

Written information follows, primarily Attributes: brings magic and good luck; supports shamanic practices; spiritually a stone of equilibrium; psychologically a powerful energy cleanser; highly effective for karmic healing; physically, it promotes the circulation of energy and oxygen around the body, etc. (There is much more written than this. I just gave you a few points of many contained in the description.)

Healing follows: in that it supports the respiratory, nervous and circulatory systems, intestines and heart.

Position follows: place, grid, or wear as appropriate.

If you enjoy playing with the energies of stones, you may want to keep a variety in your car, on your desk at work, and in your bedroom. You might consider making a grid of some kind around your bed, so that you are in between the stones, especially crystals. Of course, they make lovely and unique jewelry pieces for yourself and as gifts for others and allow you to carry the energies of the stones on your persona while you direct healing energies to others.

Nice little book and easily transportable, it is filled with information. Although my favorite book is probably Melody's earlier version of "Love Is In The Earth," which was consequently my FIRST book of stones, this little book is a nice book to have in your library. I LOVE playing with the energies in all the stones out there. As I have said many times before, it's a WONDERFUL time to be alive!
Namaste'

Althought it has nice pictures and very nice info, there are many stones listed that are not found easily. I recommend the first volume if you are new to stones and their properties. I will continue to study all the stones listed anyway!

This volume is as thorough and beautiful as Volume 1, but feel this will not be as useful to me as the previous one which contained all the crystals I need to be acquainted with as a beginner. I can see Volume 2 helping the more advanced student. But I do love that I have the set.

Have bought many books on crystals over the years,...they can get get very cumbersome to go through, and to use when reseaching something......purchased the Crystal Bible I a few years ago by Judy Hall.....great little resource,...lot's of info and compact for carrrying around....very excited to learn that the Crystal Bible II came out this year....love it....as good as the first one!

Overall I think this is a good book. The Crystal Bible has much more as far as what crystals/stones you will commonly find. That being said, Bible II contains the really obscure ones that when you come across them, you would never know where to look to find out what the crystals were and what to use them for. As I said in the title, it is a fantastic companion book to the Crystal Bible, but it isn't and wouldn't ever be the only crystal book in my library.

the books are awesome. i can't put them down.all my friends loved them and had me order several other copies