Minerals of the World [Hardcover]

Walter Schumann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

Identify over 500 of the most collectible minerals quickly and easily.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Sterling Pub Co Inc (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806985704
• ISBN-13: 978-0806985701
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,992,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good value quick identifier, with some irritations, January 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Minerals of the World (Paperback)

Quick mineral identifier, with a few columns of data on the left and small but quality colour pix on the right for 500 different entries, classified by streak colour and hardness. Comprehensive enough for a beginning/intermediate collector, but the lack of connecting text prevents any appreciation of relationships and associations between minerals, or detailed locality information. Emphasis on European localities may be novel for American readers. My main problems with this book lie in the translation. The translator is evidently not a bilingual mineralogist, and some translated terms are plain wrong. In English, cleavage is "perfect", not "complete", gold and silver are "native", not "pure" (they aren't!), and no-one will understand "Glass Bead Ore" as meaning "Kidney Ore" (botyroidal hematite). Equally confusing is the choice of odontolite (a vivianite-stained fossil tusk) and coral as specimens, when both are obviously not minerals. Beware under-researched or erroneous localities (e.g. Leadhills is in Scotland, not England!).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Colorful rock and mineral manual, August 29, 2002

By 

Cory D. Slipman (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minerals of the World (Paperback)

Not a must have for hard core rockhounds. Colorful presentaton of about 500 different rock specimens grouped according to their streak. Not impressive from a scientific and mineralogic standpoint in terms of information on individual species. The highlight of this book is the impressive array of colorful plates depicting the specimens. Common collecting locales are given. This book should be considered more of a secondary rock and mineral manual. Not particularly useful out in the field.