Customer Reviews:
 A brief comment December 5, 2007
magellan (Santa Clara, CA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This was my first book on identification at the age of 10. These guides were invaluable teaching tools back when there wasn't much else around for the young reader, and this was one of the earlier guides in the set, which eventually grew to dozens of books, some on specialized topics, such as Fungi and Non-Flowering Plants, Pond Life, Fossils, Seashells, Spiders and Their Relatives, The Heart, Light and Color, The Sky Observers Guide, and Landforms, which was essentially the guide on structural geology, so they covered a huge range of subjects.
The guides dispensed a great deal of information in small compass, and they were all 256 pages long, which meant every topic had to fit into the same format. Originated and originally edited by the great Herbert Zim, who wrote about 90 books and edited another 90 or so books, these little books were wonderful little guides at a quite modest price.
This book covers all the main groups of rocks and minerals, with each page being devoted to a particular mineral. The chemical formulas appear next to the main name or heading, which back then, I didn't understand too well, but then I was only about 10. It peaked my curiosity to learn more. There is even a page showing the Bowen reaction series, which shows the thermodynamic relationship between the minerals in a typical silicate melt, which means how the minerals precipitate out and crystallize as the temperature cools. To this day, I still remember that sequence, which went from olivine, augite, hornblende, biotite, orthoclase feldspar, quartz, and zeolite on one side, and went from sodic to calcic feldspar on the other side of the diagram, which looked like sort of a tuning fork. (If only my memory was as good today 45 years later. :-))
There is also information on identification using oxidizing and reducing flame methods, specific gravity, optical methods, and hardness. The Mohs scale gets discussed of course, and some basic petrology, so you at least learn about the basic rock types, but most of the book is really about minerals rather than rocks or petrology per se. If you want to get a real background in rock types and identification, you'll need a more detailed book for that.
The illustrations are drawings and paintings rather than photos, and some people might prefer photos. Many of the other brief guides have photos.
These books were great teaching aids and have helped several generations of young readers increase their understanding and appreciation of nature and natural history. Many of my own natural history studies, such as those for birds, the stars, and rocks and minerals, were started with these unpretentious but still quite good Golden Guides.
I was once in touch with the editor of the series for many years (Alice McGrath), who said that some of my books were out of print and might even be collectors items at some point, so hang on to the hold guides, they might be worth something some day!
Golden August 30, 2008
Chris G (North Carolina)
Golden Guide Books are classic. This book is fabulous. These little Golden Guide Books are educational and entertaining. I was so pleased to find this book as I have several in this series. These are well written and can be enjoyed by ages 7 to 70.
 Only Drawings for Pics but Good Info March 15, 2005
Michael H. Keene (Montgomery AL)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Well, I certainly expected a more comprehensive book, sort of an "identifier tool". However it's very interesting, covers a huge subject well. The illustrations look like a 1962 Earth Science text, but other than that I recommend.
rock science September 29, 2008
Karen Retzlaff (Petersburg, ND, USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This version of "rock science" is pretty user friendly and will be a good resource for beginner to intermediate rock hounds.
 Rocks August 15, 2008
K. Newberry (Kenmore, WA)
Not enough pictures of rocks as you find them. I wanted to see what agates really look like in the wild, so to speak,
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