Reviews (39)

Turn Left at Orion - Beginners Astronomy
The book was just what I wanted, reasonably priced, and promptly delivered.So far, reading it has been very informative and I want to dig into it more soon.

Excellent
Make this the first book you buy for anyone with a telescope. It is user friendly, well written and illustrated, and will ignite a passion for chasing the beautiful objects scattered through the night sky. Also useful is the guide on interesting Southern Hemisphere objects, including those in the LMC and SMC.
Turn left at Orion and you'll be right with the stars
I purchased this book and the Backyard Astronomers book at the same time.I use them both.......a lot!!This book is great because it gives you sky views (drawings not pictures) that really give you an idea of what to expect when looking up at the sky with unaided eye or through a telescope.The description that accompanies the objects of interest are well written and thought provoking. As a newbie to backyard astronomy I couldn't be more satisfied by the information I've received from this book. As others have stated, this book is a great astronomy starter book, but will inevitably be a life time companion for all of your night sky viewing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Amateurs' manuals    2. Astronomy    3. Astronomy - General    4. Astronomy - Star Guides    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Astronomy--Amateurs' manuals    8. Cosmology & the universe    9. Popular astronomy    10. Science / Astronomy   

Reviews (8)

Wonderful Book... Mistake on the Cover
My [...]son loves this book since he is into rocks and minerals.He just told me about a mistake on the cover.I wonder how many other people caught it.The gemstone right below the author's name is not an Azurite, it is a Citrine (Quartz).Maybe the author did this to see how many people catch it.My son is very observant.

Good Introduction
I love this book. It's a great resource expecially if you just need a quick guide. The charts are great. Especially nice is the section that shows stones by color.. always color x, usually color x, sometimes color x, etc. So if you are looking for green stones you can find them quickly!
Gemstones
Just started making jewelry and this book was very helpful in picking out stones to use. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Gems    2. Nature    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Precious stones    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Nature / Rocks & Minerals   

Reviews (11)

What you would expect.
I needed this book for my science olympiad team.It is exactly what you would expect from the Audubon society.Great colors, good quality, great examples. I ordered many other field guides at the suggestion from other teachers.

Audubon Field Guides Great Gifts
I purchased complete sets of Audubon Field Guides to everything for Xmas gifts this year - some given singly, some as sets.Fantastic quality; they were theme-appropriate depending upon to whom they were given and they were received with the most excitement and appreciation of any gift I have given for years.Plus, the prices were far below retail.Thanks for great service and top quality items.

Great feild guide for quick info
i loved this book i was doing a report on tourmaline and it gave me info that no othe book i looked at had ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Collection and preservation    2. Collectors and collecting    3. Minerals    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. North America    7. Rocks    8. Rocks & Minerals    9. Nature / Rocks & Minerals    10. Rocks, minerals & fossils   

Reviews (10)

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Atlas is now my FIRST reference
Having had it for two star parties now, it's become my favorite reference.
S&K and Sinnott Trump All Other's With New User Friendly Astral Guide!
S&K's new Pocket Sky Atlas is the triumphal culmination of years of research and thoughtful formatting work. Quite simply, it represents the easiest to use "at the scope" guide yet available. I highly recommend this work for the neophyte star gazer, as well as the most seasoned amateur astronomer.

Wouldn't want to go out with out it
There are two small atlases I consider to be absolutely indispensable.Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas is one of them.The charts in this atlas were well chosen.Each covers just the right amount of sky to give both a good perspective of the area you are looking at, and enough detail for star hopping with binoculars or finder scope, (stars are shown down to magnitude 7.6).Stick figures highlight the constellations to provide an easy and intuitive reference for what part of the sky the chart covers.An all sky view key of the charts is provided at the back of the book so that charts are easily located.The charts are well organized and very easy to navigate.
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - General    2. Astronomy - Star Guides    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Star Observation   

Reviews (9)

An excellent "Gem" of a book
I found this book while browsing the B&N discount racks.I told myself that I really didn't NEED another metaphysical gemstone book, but once I started flipping through the pages and saw the spectacular photography and detailed information which includes Moh's hardness*, I had to buy it.
A nice reference
This book has some good information about folklore, crystal systems, and some metaphysical information. There are photographs and suggested uses for every mineral included, although some of the photographs are not characteristic of the species as a whole. This is a good beginner's reference.

Fabulous reference!
As crystal books go, this one has information that many othersdo not.This book includes physical as well as metaphysical properties, the pictures are beautiful, and the book is well written.It is the second most often used book in my crystal and energy healing practice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Health & Fitness / Alternative Therapies    2. Nature / Rocks & Minerals    3. New Age (Self Help)    4. Alternative Therapies    5. Earth Sciences - Geology    6. Health & Fitness    7. Nature    8. Rocks & Minerals    9. Self-Help   

Reviews (68)

Salt of the earth
I wish I had been taught world history through a device such as this.Instead of learning the names of kings and battles and related dates, this kind of perspective really helps the reader understand the 'why' of so much behind what ultimately happened in western civilization. Once you can grasp that conceptual overview, all else follows with profound logic.

Great book for history and trivia junkies
While the book does not follow a "narrative" format, and occasionally changes places and times without warning, I none the less give it an unreserved recomendation!More wars, trades, and other history shaping events have happened because of salt than almost any other substance, and salt has been crtical in trade, and warfare, throughout history.I learned more about places and events I *thought* I was familiar with than I would have thought possible.
Horrendous mistake
One of the most fascinating aspects of salt is that it is hygroscopic.That is due to its chemical nature, it is slightly cooler than "room temperature".Consequently, water will form on the surface of salt from the atmosphere if it is even moderately humid (hence the reason why most of us put rice in our salt shakers - to absorb the water salt collects).You do not have to be a brain surgeon to understand the process.Imagine my surprise when I found in the very first chapter, Kurlansky waxing on whimsically about how he tried to "cook" all of the water out of his pet salt crystal so that water would not come out of it and dissolve the surface.I figure that he knows that salt is made up of NaCl (although I now have my doubts) and there is not much room for water in its crystal structure (almost zero water in it).Here is a guy that has written an entire book on the subject salt.I presumed when I purchased the book that he would be somewhat of an authority on the subject.To say the least, I have to question his abilities to write a book on salt based on the fact that he does not have the foggiest idea about one of the most interesting properties of his subject.Wow.This is a case of a good writer attempting to write on a subject he forgot to read about.By the way, a casual search of salt properties on the internet would have given him the correct information. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Economic Geology    3. History    4. History - General History    5. Mineralogy (Specific Aspects)    6. Rocks & Minerals    7. Salt    8. Salt industry and trade    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. World - General    12. History / Civilization   

Reviews (12)

Rocks and Minerals
This is the one book I was looking for, with good close-up pictures. Pictures that point out the small things on rocks or minerals you want to look for. It could be a small mass of fibers or small group of crystals. It sections off a mineral so you know what the different colors are. If you have any type of sight problems, this is more that helpful! I recommend this book for all beginners and anyone who just might be curious. It is well worth your money!

a must have for any rockhound or gem and crystal lover
I am more of a gem and crystal lover myself, yet I am happy to own this book. Whenever I go thru it I have a real URGE to go out hunting! Very comprehensive, quite technical, classifies rocks and minerals according to chemical formula (sulphides, oxides, halides, carbonates etc) or type of formation (sedimentary, metamorphic, igneous), and then works thru ecah subgruop alphabetically. Detailed descriptions, chemistry, hardness, tests, BEAUTIFUL photos, detailed index and glossary. Only thing I am missing is WHERE ON EARTH am I most likely to find them (especially the ones I absolutely LOVE), so I can plan my next vacation :D

GeoNewbie
I am new to the study of geology and have found this book to be indispensable in identifying rocks and minerals in the field. It even has a few tips at the beginning about how to do tests, and each mineral suggests tests to further aid in identifying them. It has also been a great reference when reading texts about geology. I use it to look up the rocks and minerals mentioned there. Very helpful for later field study. The least I can say is: buy this book, it is EXCELLENT!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Handbooks, manuals, etc    2. Identification    3. Minerals    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Reference    7. Rocks    8. Rocks & Minerals    9. Nature / Rocks & Minerals   

Reviews (8)

Desperately needs larger font and photos.
I am a geologist, but for heaven's sake, pics at least as good as a cheap field guide would be in order, especially for some of the more unusual minerals. Would also love to see some of the zillions of examples of granites that you can find at your average kitchen type granite center. The geology though is good, just a bit dry.

Do yourself a favor - don't buy this book
I think the Danas would be embarrassed if they lived to see their name on the cover of this book - probably the worst compendium of mineralogical data in the history of science. Here, inaccuracies and errors are the norm rather than exception, and the quality of print and paper are no match even to a circa-1900 missionary's Bible. Sloppy sources like this one do more harm than good by perpetuating errors and introducing new ones, so do yourself a favor and spend your hard-earned $350 on something else.

Long-awaited reference needs work
As a professional geologist, I use this reference often but I have foundnumerous errors. An example is that the mineral Pentlandite, an importantore of nickel, is not listed in the index. A German website is compiling anerrata list on this book and it is many pages long of spelling, locality,formulae and indices errors. Other complaints are: The informationconcerning the economic use of the minerals is too sketchy and incomplete;and the page paper is too thin and fragile. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Earth Sciences - Mineralogy    3. Mineralogy    4. Mineralogy (General)    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Geochemistry    9. Nature / Rocks & Minerals    10. Reference works   

Reviews (5)

Perfect Gift
I stumbled upon this book recently on Martha's Vineyard.It is a gem!Take the time to enjoy this book, with both prose and photos to appreciate the beach stones of your past, present and future.Buy it!

Take another look at the stones of the beach
It's amazing how Nature crafts beautiful objects from simple rocks strewn across any beach.These treasures are there for the enjoyment of anyone at any time.If you have time to stop and smell the roses, you have time to drink in the awesome charm of the stones of the beach as presented in this fine book.

An excellent book!
A must for anyone who has enjoyed collecting small, beautiful items - especially walking on a beach or along a stream bed.The text is interesting; the photographs are amazing with the stones beautifully arranged.An inspired way to look at nature's handiwork. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions    2. Iselin, Josie    3. Nature Photography    4. Oceans & Seas    5. Photo Techniques    6. Photography    7. Photography of rocks    8. Rocks & Minerals    9. Sedimentary Rocks    10. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    11. Nature / Oceans & Seas    12. Photographs: collections    13. Rocks, minerals & fossils   

Reviews (21)

Professor of Gemology aka Jasper
This book is excellent for everyone.Perfect combination of words and pictures.The things I found to be useful are the descriptions for each gemstone and they have a list of what each gemstone may possibly be confused with.They also give you alternative names for gemstones and the history of the name with its meaning.If you are interested in gemstones this is the book for you.

Outstanding Reference!!!
I use this book constantly as a reference in my hobby.It not only has complete descriptions of the gemstones, but the color pictures are marvelous and include not just one, but MANY pictuers of the gemstones in the rough, polished and cut states.You will be glad you purchased this book.

What the others did not say...
I am going to leave out any helpful information given by the previous reviews, and say what impressed me most about this fantastic little guide. Its size is perfect, the hardback made me happy because it arrived just after another field guide (petersons) which fell apart, losing pages when I first looked into it, and this book looks like it will endure for some time, so yeah! for quality of workmanship, and there are layers and layers of information in this referance.
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Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Earth Sciences - Mineralogy    3. Gems    4. Precious stones    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. BG-JUVENILE PROP - BG-JUVY PRESCHOOL    9. Nature / Rocks & Minerals   

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - General    2. Astronomy - Star Guides    3. Astrophysics & Space Science    4. Multiple stars    5. Observations    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Science / Astronomy    9. Stars, interstellar matter   

Reviews (3)

MY ALLTIME FAVORITE!!
This structure book is truly the finest example of what an academic text should be. The content is thorough with no categorical difficiencies. Organization is logical and somewhat unique. However, what makes this work so special is the first author's personal style of creativity. Artwork and the written words are done with a joyful flair. Instead of dry technicalities, students find humor and "common sense" descriptions throughout. How-to descriptions are quite successful. It all goes to show that being a good text author has more to do with conveying the heart of a gifted teacher than with being an "expert". In this particular case, the book is a wonderful product of accomplshed experts who happen to be gifted communicators as well. I wish publishers and aspiring authors would use this text as a model in all subjects.

Good Book for undergrads
This book is one of the complete books in structural geology in the sense that it covers structural geology exhaustively follwed by tectonics which allows you to understand the importance of structural geology in the context of larger scales. Another good quality of the book is that a lot of techniques required for solving practical lab problems are explained lucidly.
great textbook for the student of structural geology
I took structural geology at the University of Washington spring quarter1997. Book was excellent and contributed to a reasonably good grade (3.3)for the course. Recommend for students or professors of structural geology ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Geology    3. Geology, Structural    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Rocks & Minerals    7. Science    8. Structural Geology    9. Geology & the lithosphere    10. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    11. Science / Earth Sciences   

Reviews (1)

Clear and Concise presentation
This book is one of the set texts for the Third Level Open University course, "The Energetic Universe" and provides a good introduction to the subject of Astrophysics. Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Star Guides    2. Astrophysics    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Stars    6. Science / Astronomy    7. Stars, interstellar matter   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Natural Resources    3. Nature    4. Nature/Ecology    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Science    7. BG-JUVENILE PROP - BG-JUVY NON-FICTION    8. Nature / Rocks & Minerals   

Reviews (2)

Magnificent
American Forests and his earlier book Petrified Wood are amazingly beautiful books. I have seen a few of the petrified wood samples in museums which are shown in these books, and the photoimages correspond to the authentic samples. I have two other petrified wood photo books that I have loaned out but I don't remember their titles (mostly chapters by German authors). Daniels two books are the very best. Howard McPherson

The best book on fossil wood bar none
I have been an amateur fossil hunter for 60 years and on rare occasion a book of this quality is printed.
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Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - General    2. Environmental Science    3. Nature / Rocks & Minerals    4. Nature / Trees    5. Paleontology    6. Petrification    7. Pictorial works    8. Plants, Fossil    9. Science    10. Science / Mineralogy    11. Science/Mathematics    12. Trees, Fossil    13. Paleobotany    14. Petrifaction    15. Petrified forests    16. Wood   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Jewelry    3. Nature    4. Nature/Ecology    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Agates    7. Nature / Rocks & Minerals   

Reviews (2)

The Rock Physics Handbook
Excellent reference.Improvements would be more explanation of the variables in the equations. The index at the back is off, for example a reference on page 60 (Greenberg et al)is actually on page 64 and another topic that is supposed to be on page 235 is actually on page 246 (Smith and Gidlow).

The Rock Physics Handbook Review
The book works well as a reference, but contains only cursory examinations of some topics. Governing and consistutive equtions are comprehensively included in the text. Worth the expense. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Rocks & Minerals    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Geophysics    6. Rocks    7. Science / Geology    8. Vulcanology & seismology   

Reviews (1)

A great by-the-telescope companion to Southern observers
I love this book. It has been my sole companion during long nights of telescope observation. Read more

Subjects:  1. Amateurs' manuals    2. Astronomy    3. Astronomy (General)    4. Astronomy - General    5. Astronomy - Star Guides    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Southern sky (Astronomy)    9. Star Observation    10. Astronomical observation: observatories, equipment & methods    11. Astronomy--Amateurs' manuals    12. Popular astronomy    13. Science / Astronomy   

Reviews (2)

Jewels-Not Only for Jewel Lovers
For anyone who is interested in the fascinating story of some of the worlds most popular types of jewels, this book is for you. For anyone who is interested in visiting little know and remote parts of our planet, this book is for you. For anyone who is interested in better understanding why people are mesmerized by beautiful objects and why other people undertake dangerous jobs to find them, this book is for you.
Sparkling History
"It is an ordinary gemstone," writes Victoria Finlay of the sapphire in a ring given to her by her parents, "yet like most other ordinary gemstones it has a good story to tell, if you go looking for it."Go looking she does, not only for the story of that sapphire but for those of other gems, and yes, she found good stories and writes them up in _Jewels: A Secret History_ (Ballantine Books).Indeed, she values the stories more than the stones' rarity, perfection, or size.She set out to tell stories of nine different stones, from semi-precious to precious, and from two to ten on the Mohs hardness scale.The scale, invented in 1825 by mineralogist Freidrich Mohs, simply rates stones and other substances by what they can scratch and what scratches them; talc rates a one and diamond, the hardest substance known, rates a ten.Finlay ranges her chapters from softest stone to hardest: amber (Mohs somewhere between gypsum 2 and calcite 3), through jet, pearl, opal, peridot, emerald, sapphire, ruby, and finally diamond.(It is interesting that value tends to increase with hardness, indicating that we place a premium on durability.)Even the biggest stones, Finley notes, are objects that are really rather small, but the stories encompass great swaths of human history and technical expertise.
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Subjects:  1. Fashion    2. Gems    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Jewelry    7. Jewelry making    8. Precious stones    9. Rocks & Minerals    10. World - General    11. World History    12. History / World   

Reviews (1)

Useful book
It contains a lot of thin-section photo of igneous rocks. By reading the atlas of igneous rocks, we can classify their rocks type. It is a very great book for studying igneous rock. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atlases    2. General    3. Igneous Petrology    4. Reference    5. Rocks & Minerals    6. Rocks, Igneous    7. Nature / Rocks & Minerals