Customer Reviews

Introduction to Optical Mineralogy

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Remarkably lucid yet accurate presentation of a subject often found difficult by students.

The first third of the text deals with the properties of light, the use and care of the petrographic microscope, and the optical properties of minerals and how to use these to identify mineral grains in thin sections.

Much of the text contains detailed descriptions of the commoner rock-forming minerals from the standpoint of the petrographer. Descriptive diagrams and photographs, and capitalized section headings, separated paragraphs, and all typeface (font) easy to read. Paper is quality glossy and easy to use.

Appendices include Identification Tables based upon various optical properties, tables which have proved their use to students taking the course. Also includes the standard fold-up Interference Color Chart, on quality glossy paper, and on its reverse a table of birefringence versus relief (difference in refractive index).

The author retains consideration for students, including photos of such non-minerals as may confuse the tyro, such as textile fibers, bubbles, and grinding compound, all of which get into thin sections (petrographic slides).

Excellently laid out and organized, it also contains a good Index. This text was written for college students taking petrography and optical mineralogy, and has been kept, rather than sold, even by some students who never expect to use a petrographic microscope again. College instructors take notice, as for a junior to senior level petrography course this text probably rates a 9 or a 10. [DMM]

As a student of Geology, I have used Nesse as my bible for all petrology courses. It is complete, comprehensive and easy to use. A must for all geologists, student or not.

A well written and illustrated textbook on the subject matter. It is exactly what it wants to be: An introduction. And it is a good one. Wide and detailed enough to give the beginner a good handle of "what optical mineralogy is all about" without going into too much detail of purely academic issues. Good balance of theory and examples.
The illustrations are plenty, rich and very instructive. However, minor improvements may be possible by replacing some of the black&white illustrations with updated colour graphics, in particular the microphotographs.

This is a definate must have for all you Geologists out there. No matter what year of school you are in or even if you are no longer in school, but need a bit of reference now and again, this is the book to have. Nesse does an excellent job of clearly explaining and illustrating the optical properties of minerals. He includes all of the essential bits of information that any geologist will need. I highly recommend this book as a great reference tool that any geologist or aspiring geologist should add to their collection of references.

Finally we have a mineralogy text book that will compete with Klein and Hurlbuts's Manual of Mineralogy. The line drawings are outstanding. I am using this text book the next time I teach mineralogy.

Another fine, informative book that is truly helpful in gemology, as well as the intended geology studies.
Well worth the price.

Very good resource, excellent learning tool. The CD is an excellent addition. A suggestion is to add more pictures on the CD of minerals in a variety of forms and contexts, and go into more detail on recognizing minerals in different contexts. However, it is a great improvement over texts that I used when first learning the subject.

This is a great book for gemology students who want a deeper understanding of optical properties such as interference figures.