Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Crystals

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have many other books on crystals, including Judy Hall's Crystal Bible, and I must say I just fell in love when I saw this book. Right off the bat it was able to help me identify crystals I had purchased that were mislabeled by the shop. It had photo examples of almost every crystal in the book and some having multiple examples. The photos are beautiful and really helpful. What made me bring it home was I found crystals that can help children with ADHD, which my oldest son has. This is the first book I have found so far that covers it.

My only real complaint, like the other reviewer, is that the crystals are listed by colors. In actuality, it is probably a good thing as most other books are by name. You may not know the name of a particular crystal, but know its color. So you can search in that color section to hopefully find a photo resembling the crystal you have.

With each crystal it gives you the crystal system, chemistry, hardness, source (or origin), chakra, number, zodiac sign, planet, what it is beneficial for, and additional information of what the crystal is useful for. This is more for knowing the stones. If you are looking for a book where you can look up the crystal that meets your needs as far as ailments or any healing, I'd recommend Judy Hall's Crystal Prescriptions.

I would definitely recommend having this in your library for anyone interested in crystals and crystal healing.

Judy Hall (author of Crystal Bible, a condensed hand held 7"x6"x1" plethora of stone knowledge and medical application of stones) continues and expands her previous work in a HUGE legal sized version of acension stones divided by chraka color. If you loved Crystal Bible you will also love Encyclopedia of Crystals a companion and expanded version that includes beautiful photographs of newly discovered stones. A Wonderful

addition to any stone library. Thank you Judy Hall!

This is overall a very good crystal and gemstone book. Much of the information meshes well with Melody's books and I like that they identify which chakras each stone works well with. It's easy to navigate and designed well. However, some of the images that they chose to represent the stones are really not good, in fact, some of them barely look like any specimen I've ever seen of the stone and are not good for identification at all.

While I may not be the biggest fan of Judy Hall, I really think this book is very lovely. It has many of the newer materials to appear on the market, and many unusual pieces as well.

The book is organised by colour, which is confusing inasmuch that most minerals are available in more than one colour. She also breaks down classification to create multiple entries for one type of crystal (Herkimer diamonds, for example, versus citrine Herks, amethystine Herks, Smokey Herks, Golden Enhydro Herks, etc...) thus scattering them all around the book rather than having them in one place. To counter this effect, there is an extensive crystal index in the beginning, affording a supplement to the table of contents.

The scientific information included is not very comprehensive, and not the most sound, but it is nice to see even the most basic of introductions to these concepts in more books today.

Like her other books, there are photographs of most specimens, and some may be mislabeled, but this is still a great book, overall.

As you know I LOVE crystals, and enjoy using the metaphysical properties of Crystals for my and others benefit.

I LOVE and recommend the following books

"Love Is In The Earth: A Kaleidoscope Of Crystals" A. Melody
"The Crystal Bible" Judy Hall
"The Crystal Handbook" Kevin Sullivan

These books are listed in the order that I recommend them.

This review is about "The Encyclopedia Of Crystals"

I will NEVER recommend this book because of the following reasons.

1. This book is BIG and unwieldy for me 8 1/2 by 11 inch footprint.

2. This time she decided to categorize the crystals by COLOR instead of alphabetically. This makes it difficult to find the crystal you are looking for.

3. Some of the information is plain wrong especially the moh's hardness rating for some of the stones.

4. Many of the pictures in this book are very poor in quality.

In my personal opinion she should have released an updated version of "The Crystal Bible" that had information on new stones not covered in the earlier version.

I disliked this book so much I actually gave it away.

Overall rating 1 star. "SAVE YOUR MONEY!"

This book is a fabulous expansion of "The Crystal Bible"
The stones are listed by color, so the reader doesn't need to know the name of the stone they want to look up; that is extremely helpful for anyone who is just getting into stones.

The author gives scientific information not found in most other books, including: crystal system, chemistry, hardness (moh scale), source, Chakra, Zodiac sign, planet, and a list of beneficial uses. With a list of beneficial uses, the reader doesn't have to skim over the whole write-up of the stone to see if it's what they want.
It has a listing of the crystal on the first pages in alphabetical order, giving their corresponding page numbers for quick refference.
The layout is attractive, yet simple, drawing the eye without overwhelming it.

This is a fantastic reference book and should be on the shelf of everyone interested in crystal healing. Besides clear descriptions of each stone including source, hardness, chakras, and healing use there is a high quality photo of the stone. It is simply an excellent reference book. I am very glad to own it.

I got this book because my son has been interested in rocks and crystals for a while now and wants to start a collection. This book is great!

It's a big book - about 9 inches wide and 11 inches high. It's a beautiful book which makes for a nice coffee table book as well as reference book. There are pictures of every single crytal that is listed. Whether you're into crystals or not, it's impossible not to admire their beauty.

The chapters are divided by the colors of the crystals:
Pink and peach
red and orange
yellow, cream and gold
green
green-blue and turquoise
blue and indigo
purple, lavender and violet
brown
black, silver and gray
white and colorless
combination stones

The writer, Judy Hall, starts the book with the history of crystals, crystal chemistry and shapes. She goes into cleansing, activating and maintaining your crystals as well. She touches on chakras and healing.

Each crystal has an photo example, the crystal system, chemistry, hardness, source, charkra, number, zodiac sign, planet and what it is beneficial for (Much of which is lost on me, but I enjoyed it). Some crystals have an additional paragraph of explanation and benefits.

There is an index in the front which lists the stones by name, and an index in the back of the book for specific categories the stones are known for like abundance, or healing the heart, or attracting a soul mate, trust or truth and many, many more.

I have not read the crystal bible that Judy Hall has also written, so I can't compare the two books. All I can say is that this one is an excellent resource for a family new to crystal collecting.

If you can't afford Melody's Love is in the Earth: The Crystal and Mineral Encyclopedia, The Light Fantastic and The Last Testament (entire title of 1 book), then this is an ok book to have on hand. The pictures are glossy and high quality, but there are some incorrect photos placed with some minerals as well incorrect descriptions. I also found it a confusing interface and it took a little while to learn how to properly use it (sounds odd, but true).

If you are looking for a definitive research manual get Melody's book, and if you can't afford the hefty price tag of her final edition, get her previous versions before purchasing this (Jane Hall's Encyclopedia of Crystals) book.

Well if you never knew a rock from a crystal, if you never knew what kind of crystal you had or you want to know what the use of crystals are then this is a book for you. This book covers everything about crystals and then some.
They also did this thing in colors so if you know the color but are not sure what it is then this book will be a great big help or if you know what it is then look it up by name on top of that if you want a specific crystal for a certain use, well yes, you can look it up that way as well!
All around great book even if your not completely into crystals this is still a good book to buy.