Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana) [Hardcover]

Cornelis Klein (Author), Cornelius S. Hurlbut (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 1985

Comprehensive and up-to-date, this revised introductory text presents a balanced treatment of basic concepts in mineralogy and descriptive discussions of about 200 of the most common minerals. New in this 20th Edition are a more simplified approach to crystal morphology, a chapter on internal order and structure, a new chapter on gem minerals with four color plates, and revisions throughout the text which reflect a more quantitative approach.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The classic in the field since 1848, this extraordinary reference offers readers unsurpassed coverage of mineralogy and crystallography. The book is known for it's complete coverage of concepts and principles with along a more systematic and descriptive treatment of mineralogy. The revised edition now includes a CD-ROM to let readers see the minerals and crystals, while also viewing chemical composition, symmetry, and morphological crystallography. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

This highly revised 22^nd edition even has a new name Manual of Mineral Science. It covers chemistry and crystal chemistry earlier than in previous editions to make the text more accessible to a broader range of students. The first seven chapters are essentially independent, allowing for great flexibility in an instructor's preferred subject sequence.

Each chapter has new introductory statements that explain what follows. New figures have been added in many places and thirteen new "interest boxes" Relate the subject of mineralogy to matters that are of more general and/or geologic interest. Eight new color plates with photographs of 72 of the most common minerals are new as well.

An expanded and More Usable CD. A revised version (2.1) of the CD-ROM Mineralogy Tutorials is enclosed with this text, designed for both student and instructor use. It Includes many animations that deal with three-dimensional concepts (in crystal chemistry and crystallography) and which are difficult to visualize from a book illustration, as well as brief text pages for 104 of the most common minerals, with links to crystal structure illustrations, compositional and assemblage diagrams, stability and phase diagrams, solid solution mechanism, and so on. It has an "Autorun" feature for the PC platform; an efficient print function was added, and all animations were made compatible with Quick Time version 4.0. Furthermore, audio explanations by the author were added to about 50 screens to aid the user's understanding of the presentations and/or animations. The illustrations and animations are consistently large so that the images are extremely useful as an accompaniment to lectures, through a computer overhead projection system.

Laboratory Manual. Also available from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. for use in the mineralogy laboratory is: Klein, C., 1994  Minerals and Rocks: Exercises in Crystallography, Mineralogy, and Hand Specimen Petrology, revised edition, 405 PP. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 596 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 20th edition (January 21, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471805807
• ISBN-13: 978-0471805809
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,943,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Considerable improvement over the 19th and 20th editions., November 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana) (Paperback)

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]

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and Well Illustrated, December 25, 2001

By 

Kevin R. Henke (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana), 21st Edition, Revised (Hardcover)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From a student's perspective, December 20, 2000

By 

"scholastica23" (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana), 21st Edition, Revised (Hardcover)

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.