Customer Reviews

The Essence of Gemstones (Rocks, Minerals and Gemstones)

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

 

 

I purchased this book as a science resource for my school library and was horrified when I began reading it. There is almost no scientific data, and many descriptions are similar to this one for the pink pearl: "With this pearl, the animal kingdom points out to us that we have forgotten the agreement that we have made with God - to protect all living beings and especially those that are subordinate to our development." Nearly all crystal descriptions are filled with references to God and most impart human characteristics to the crystals.
Whacko! This is not a scholarly resource.

This book contained vast amounts of information on every gem topic there is. It helped me tremendously in learning about gems. It also saved me a lot of money when I went out and purchased a ruby bracelet for my mother and diamond ring for my wife. I probably saved at least a thousand dollars just from using the knowledge obtained from this book. It is a great book and I recommend everyone buying it. It is a great investment!

This book is awesome! It tells all about crystals and what they do. It shows a great picture, composition, hardness, color,and the source! I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves gemstones and would like to learn about the effects that they have on people!

but otherwise a little lacking.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it really comes from the heart and has themes that differ from other book that encompass this topic. The entire book contains very encouraging, spiritual messages, and many are of a very Christianized nature, which gives it distinction from the traditional books. Nothing is inherently exclusive, so the messages presented are very open to all people of all traditions.

The weaknesses that prevent this stone from getting a five star rating really lie in the incompleteness of the work. Many very unusual stones are discussed, and all but very few have pictures to accompany them, though most of the unusual stones have very little information regarding their uses. The book does a beautiful job of including so many different gemstones, but their origins and mineralogy are totally left out of this work. Locations from which they come and the chemical formulae are found with each page, but there is insufficient data concerning any other of the scientific aspects of these stones. Some things, like relative refractive indices or easily identifiable physical properties would make identification of cut gemstones so much easier.

This book is not unlike a textbook; it is a sturdy volume meant to be treasured like its subjects. I am sure you will enjoy this one!

I love the beauty of the pictures of the crystals out in natural locations. They are breath taking. The energy discriptions are short and to the point with the usual hardness and vibrational information. I greatly appreciate information regarding the misrepresentation of some stones as other more expesive or rare stone too. This book just plane feels good. There is a definate Christian spin to some of the energy discriptions.