Minerals (Barron's Nature Guide) [Paperback]

Hochleitner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Barron's Nature Guide

This Barron's guide is a new kind of book for identifying minerals, one that even beginners can use to make quick, sure identifications. The simple, easy-to-understand profiles are supplemented by sketches of crystals made by the author especially for this book and based on the most up-to-date crystallographic data. It is a field guide to mineral deposits, categorized by color and degree of hardness for fast, easy identification.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Can you tell cacoxenite from walpurgite? If not, this new field guide will help you identify approximately 300 minerals by using two key tests: streak and hardness. Hochleitner's opening definition of what minerals are leads into a discussion of various properties: hardness, tenacity, density, streak, color, and cleavage. This is followed by sections on crystal forms, origins, modes of occurance, and gemstones.

Each section on identification is based on the color seen when the streak test is done. Within each streak, ranking is by the hardness test. Every entry has at least one color photo adjacent to the listing. The listing is short, giving the mineral's particular identifying features. Some are accompanied with drawings of the crystal. The book closes with brief sections on finding and organizing specimens and a short glossary.

This work compares favorably with other popular guides on minerals; Schumann's Minerals of the World [RBB S 1 92], which has a similar organization, and the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, which has a key by visual color, hardness, and cleavage. Both of these books mention places where the minerals have been found, not just rock-deposit type as Hochleitner does. Minerals is straightforward, easy to use, and visually appealing. Those public and school libraries not owning Minerals of the World, or where use of guides is heavy, will want to consider adding a copy.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 237 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 1st English language ed edition (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812017773
• ISBN-13: 978-0812017779
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Mineralogy
  • #100 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Rocks & Minerals

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Minerals: Identifying, classifying and collecting them, April 24, 2000

By 

Christine Reynolds (Pocatello, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minerals (Barron's Nature Guide) (Paperback)

This field guide to mineral deposits is one of the best I have used. It is easy to use and it provides clear and easy identification of minerals. With over 500 color photos, the book is arranged by color streak and includes the degree of hardness, density, streak description, color, chemical formula, cleavage, crystal form, tenacity and crystal formation. Other features include a list of similar minerals and where the mineral occurs, i.e. in pegmatites. The author also gives advice on where to find minerals and the kind of equipment needed to retrieve them. Also useful is the information on how to organize a collection. The paperback format lends itself to tossing the book into a backpack for easy reference when mineral "hunting" in the field. This is a "must have" for any adventurer's personal library.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Use, December 19, 2003

By 

D. Williams (Bethany, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Minerals (Barron's Nature Guide) (Paperback)

I use this book as one of several rock and mineral field guides in a lab exercise in which college students enrolled in a physical geography class have to identify 15 different minerals. The lab groups that use this guide are always the first to complete the lab successfully. Unlike the Peterson's Guide and some others, this guidebook doesn't require you to carry a chemistry lab in your back pocket to successfully identify common minerals. Instead it is organized around the most basic and easily done field test techniques: streak color and hardness. Would be nice if it had a rock section in it as well.