Customer Reviews

Dana's Manual of Mineralogy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This text is often used in college mineralogy courses. As one having considerable experience with minerals before taking the college course, I found the 21st edition a distinct improvement over the two previous editions.

The strengths of this edition are in its treatment of crystallography and of crystal chemistry (however, Bloss' Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry covers this well), mineral chemistry (compositional variation in minerals, calculation of analyses, etc.), x-ray crystallography, mineral stability diagrams, good line crystal diagrams in its systematic section, and a usefully organized index. Although this reviewer has often disliked determinative tables as a waste of space (checking entries takes time but is educational), those in this edition have been found useful to students.

A few weaknesses are the removal of interfacial angles from this edition (even cleavage angles may aid in identification), the absence (except for hydrochloric acid upon a few carbonates) of most simple chemical tests upon samples, using cheap hardware store acids and reagents, and the absence of any passing reference to the subject of blowpipe analysis, a historical adjunct that served mineralogy as much as the Bunsen burner served chemistry. Although that is a separate subject not possibly treated adequately within a one-semester course, and not generally treated in college courses today, it is a historic part of our mineralogical heritage, and often can serve a useful purpose in the aid of identification of commoner species. A few notes as to its place in history, and a few text references for further study, would have been appreciated. However, the Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals, by Frederick H. Pough (Peterson field guide series) may serve as a useful complement to this text.

This could use rewording in a few places, as some sentence structure (indeed some formula structure) may be found ambiguous, an example being formulas on page 75 to find a and c, which are not clear as to whether parts of these, as in the last paragraph on said page, are in the numerator or in the denominator... Another example is the use of the stereographic net, which I had quite a time figuring out from the text, and when I did I rewrote directions and pinned them up on the bulletin board of the geology dept. Kudos, however, to whomever put the stereonet inside the back cover of the text with the suggestion to photocopy it for use. Also the list, two pages past the last numbered page, of locations of some key tables and illustrations. Clarity of language is important to a student desiring to learn more about some aspect of the subject.

It is difficult to rate books upon a number system, as objective reasons and examples are more informative. The rating, which seems to be required, is an average based upon my own personal opinion: 6.7. [DMM]

The book contains excellent diagrams, graphs and other illustrations, which are useful for all students. Although the CD has valuable tutorials for beginning students, the text is often too technical and "dry" for beginners. Besides discussing crystallography and mineralogy, the book also provides a good review of chemistry and methods for analyzing minerals. Overall, the book is an excellent reference for upper level undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. Lower-level undergraduates may require a less technical textbook.

I just finished the semester, so I think I have a pretty good feel for the book now. At the beginning I found it difficult simply because it occasionally used terms and diagrams before explaining them. As the semester progressed and I became more knowledgable about the subject, I found the textbook increasingly helpful and readable. Certainly there is a lot of good stuff in here, and the CD was unecessary but fun. Overall, it was a good complement to the lectures.

Oi, how much more convoluted can a text get? With every edition, this text gets less organized. Or that is at least true for the last 3 editions, anyways ... Eg. In how many chapters can the topic of "symmetry" be covered? Keeping it to 1 would be much easier to digest, thankyou.

The text is written in old-school rambly style... sure, it covers all topics, but it is hard to learn from (and in my experience, even harder to teach from). There are better options out there. Nesse "Intro to Mineralogy" text.

Into the 5th week of Mineralogy class, this book *then* became extremely informative - this is not a self-instructional manual, and I do not believe it was intended to be so. Most students will find the writing style in this text a bit intellectually heady, having been written by a distinguished Harvard PhD professor. It could have been written more concisely, perhaps more simplisticly, but all the information is there, and from what I understand, past editions were more comprehensive than this 22nd edition. I personally love this text, and only *after* an introduction to the subject will this text make real sense to the reader. And yes, I agree with the previous posts regarding certain statements about crystal structures that require some sort of base level knowledge of chemistry or physics or math (i.e. symmetry concepts) in order to fully comprehend a particular passage, but that's what you get from an Ivy League PhD-er! I believe this text was designed for the third year student who should already have taken 1 semester each of at least chemistry and calculus. Although calculus isn't necessary for the class, it presupposes that you know and understand some basic conceptual geometry.

I would suggest reading some basic introduction to mineralogy websites before tackling this book. Also, I have found that for the conscientious mineralogy students who possess a "more refined" reading level and who are putting genuine effort into the class, this book is a valuable edition. Other texts simply do not cover as much material as found here, such as x-ray diffraction and optics. Overall meant for students and not the self-taught, although that depends on the individual, but in general I would not recommend this for the beginner who wants to learn on his/her own. Still, a great text. Try getting some olders editions with less sub-subjects edited out for a real comprehensive text!

I have used this book for my mineralogy class in college. I keep it as a reference. i believe my understanding of the physical properties of mineral could not have happened from lectures alone. It was this book which helped me and everyone in mineralogy classes throughout the U.S. There are easy to use tables and facts on almost every mineral you could come across in the field. I hope this book lasts with me the rest of my life.

I bought this textbook for a Mineralogy course at a university. I was told the 22nd edition would suffice since I could not afford the 23rd edition. For those of you who are in the same boat and trying to cut corners, dont buy this book! I am not commenting on the quality of the book at all, I'm sure it is an excellent textbook. I am just warning those who expect to follow along in a class using the next edition. Its not just a matter of different page numbers or chapters, there is whole chapters missing. If you need the 23rd edition and are in a pinch, rent it from [...]

Dana's Manual of Mineralogy is one of the most important manuals ever written on mineralogy. It has been re-edit by Cornelius Klein after the death of the author.

I bought this book as a Christmas present for my 12 year old nephew who lives with me. He LOVES mineralogy and already has several books on the subject. He immediately began devouring this book, following me around telling me all the 'interesting' things he's learning. (I don't really mind, it is nice to see him enthusiastic about something other than a video game.) The book might be considered a 'Mineralogy 101' and has been a very good textbook to introduce the science to my budding mineralogist. Not really having the same interest, I wouldn't be able to tell you if the book would be a good reference for someone already familiar with mineralogy. The things my nephew likes best is it filled in gaps of his knowledge of crystalline structures & how they form & how the formations affect what you do with them (faceting). The discussions on mining techniques also caught his interest. All in all, I'm very pleased with my purchase, and so is my nephew.

This would make a good college text book on Minerals. The next level for the serious rockhound.