Beautiful Rocks and How to Find Them is an accessible guide for rockhounds and field geology enthusiasts collected and written by Alison Jean Cole. Due out 26th March 2024 from the Princeton Architectural Press, it's 208 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.
Rockhounding is a fine way to get out into nature, enjoy social / family outings, acquire fun and interesting knowledge about our world, and potentially have a lasting memory or materials for meaningful rock collection or even one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces. Rock enthusiasts are some of the coolest, friendliest, and genuinely welcoming folks on the planet. The author is an experienced rockhound and guide and shares some of her experience to help others get started (or progress) in the hobby.
The book has a logical and accessible layout. The author covers getting started, identifying likely rocks in a given location, doing research, finding and getting permissions, safety, equipment, and building a collection. It's photographed well and clearly (many photos from the author's own collection) throughout.
It's nice that the nomenclature is correct, but moreso that it's always relayed in a completely accessible, non-intimidating manner. She covers the creation of many common to uncommon rocks and how they were created, and with her conversational style manages to make the terminology easy to understand and retain.
The author/publisher have included further links and reading lists for collecting, legalities, etc... mostly slanted to North America (specifically Canada and the USA).
Readers will need a guide and/or a field guide or group. There is no ID info or field notes in this volume. There are an abundance of good pictorial field guides with good photos of cut and uncut minerals and where they're likely to be found. That info is not included here.
Four stars. Well written and illustrated.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment