The ever increasing number of publications about
minerals reflects a growing interest in nature.
Most of those publications though only deal with a
few dozen of the most common minerals or
gemstones. This book fills the gap by also
featuring less common and rare minerals. The
authors describe over 600 mineral species and
varieties, illustrated with about 750 color
photographs. In choosing illustrations of particular
minerals, acsthctic criteria such as size of crystal
and color played a role in addition to their
importance and distribution in nature. This book
includes some rare minerals, known only from one
locality, because they form very attractive crystals
or aggregates. There are minerals known to
humankind since prehistoric times such as quartz
and gold, but also minerals first described quite
recently like rossmanite. The photographs show
well-formed and colorful crystals but many
aggregates, which are more common in nature, are
also included. The minerals in the book are listed
according to the mineralogical system of Hugo
Strunz, in his book Mineralogische Tabellen in
1978. The chemical formulae of individual
minerals follow the form of Glossary of Mineral
Species 1995 by M. Fleischer and J.A. Mandarine.
The information is complemented in both cases
with the latest knowledge from scientific
literature, such as new nomenclature of
amphiboles, micas and zeolites.
The mineral descriptions cover the
