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Many of these books are available from our Museum store or from Amazon.com. Selecting a link to Amazon.com will open a new browser window. When you are finished browsing or buying from Amazon, close the new window to return to this website.

Children and Families | The Serious Amateur

For children and families

Beattie, Laura C.
Discover Rocks and Minerals: A Carnegie Activity Book
Carnegie Museum of Natural History (1994) Paperback
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Available from Amazon.com

Parker, Steve, et. al.
Rocks and Minerals (Eyewitness Explorers)
Dorling Kinders (1997) Paperback - 64 pages
Excellent children's reference and activity book.
Amazon synopsis: A geology expert explains how to tell rocks from minerals and then shares secrets of spotting sulfides, chromates, igneous and metamorphic rocks, and more.
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Available from Amazon.com

Ricciuti, Edward R.
Rocks and Minerals (National Audubon Society First Field Guides)
Scholastic Trade (1998) Paperback - 160 pages
Amazon review: This book is part of a series of guides designed for adolescents interested in natural history and nature. The books are an excellent introduction to the Rocks and Minerals, Birds, Wildflowers, and Insects for children aged 8-18... Each field guide features 50 common specimens with photos and brief descriptions of many more regionally occurring rocks and minerals.
Available from Amazon.com

Zim, Herbert S. and Paul R. Shaffer
Minerals: A Guide to Familiar Minerals, Gems, Ores and Rocks
Golden Press
Everyone's first field book for mineral collecting.
Out of Print

For the serious amateur

Busbey, Arthur Bresnahan (Editor), Robert R. Coenraads, David Roots, Paul M. Willis
Rocks & Fossils (Nature Company Guide)
Time-Life (1996) Hardcover
Available from Amazon.com

Chesterman, Charles Wesley
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals
Knopf (1979) Hardcover - 850 pages
Available from Amazon.com

Holden, Martin
The Encyclopedia of Gemstones and Minerals
British Museum of Natural History
Out of Print

Mottana, Annibale, Rodolfo Crespi, and Giuseppe Liborio
Simon and Schuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals
Simon & Schuster (1978) Paperback - 607 pages
Available from Amazon.com

Pemberton, H. Earl
Minerals of California
Chapman & Hall (1992) Hardcover
A very useful, complete list of mineral occurrences in each California county.
Available from Amazon.com

Pough, Frederick H.
A Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals (Peterson Field Guides)
Chapters Publishing Ltd. (1998) Paperback 6th edition
Available from Amazon.com

Schumann, Walter, K.A.G., Dr. Mills, R. Bradshaw (Translator)
Handbook of Rocks, Minerals, and Gemstones
Houghton Mifflin Company (1993) Paperback - 380 pages
Available from Amazon.com

Sinkankas, John
Field Collecting Gemstones and Minerals
Geoscience Press (1995) Paperback - 415 pages
Available from Amazon.com

Sinkankas, John
Mineralogy for Amateurs
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
Out of Print

Sinkankas, John
Prospecting for Gemstones and Minerals
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
Formerly titled Gemstones and Minerals: How and Where to Find Them
Out of Print

Sorrell, Charles A.
Field Guide and Introduction to the Geology and Chemistry of Rocks and Minerals
Ill. by George F. Sandstrom
Golden Books (1978) Paperback
A complete guide to minerals, this illustrated field guide has been used in our museum's mineralogy classes.
Available from Amazon.com

Woodward, Christine, Dr. Roger Harding (Contributor)
Gemstones
Sterling Publications (1988) Paperback
Available from Amazon.com

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A portion of the proceeds of books purchased from Amazon.com will benefit the Museum.