Gemstones

This book is a great help in studying gemology!

There are a lot of books about gems and gemstones. Some give some information, and others give other info. This book gives summaries and information about each type of gem material more concisely and accessible than any other book around. Cally Hall did an excellent job of giving some information about each material, and then showing the gemological information in a consistent and easy to locate manner. I teach faceting of gemstones at a US university and this is the first book I tell my students to obtain. There is only one piece of valuable information not included, and that is Critical Angle (which is needed only when cutting a stone) but which is directly related to Refractive Index (R.I.) which IS included. I highly recommend this book as a quick source of info about gems and gem materials, one you will keep close and use for years.

This book is an example of "you get what you paid for". I expected much more from a Smithsonian book. The descriptions of each gem are Reader's Digest style, not thorough at all. I've learned more about gems from watching Jewelry Television. The book binding feels like the pages will fall apart after reading a few times. I'm keeping this book only because I do not want to go trough the return process. I am very sad, for sure.

New to the hobby so enjoying a great deal. The book is just what it says it is but I wish it had more on the finishing and "mounting" of the gemstones.

Kids love this book at our library. They start checking it out in 2nd grade and enjoy it through 5th grade. Both boys and girls like the photographs that clearly illustrate the beauty of Gemstones. They also like the short text that accompanies each stone's photograph. It makes learning about stones fun and fabulous.

I've always been fascinated by sparkly gemstones. This book adds depth to my fascination. It tells You where to find the raw gemstones in nature. And describes the properties of gems I didn't know existed. It also describes what gems look good with what cuts. Quality for the hobbyist or professional.

Obviously an older book, but still very informative.

This book tells you about everything you need to know about gemstones. The pictures are great and it explains everything on each stone. I would tell anyone that is starting out collecting to get this book.

I got this book as I've rekindled my interest in collecting gemstones of various types and was looking for a guide to help me on the way.The book is beautifully laid out with great colour images of each type of gemstone, facts on where the gemstones are found, historical bits about the stones, hardness of stones and so much more.It also discusses how gemstones are formed and the different processes involved in taking them from their raw form to be a beautiful stone in a piece of jewellery. Overall it's a very informative and useful book.The reason I don't rate it five stars is that it doesn't include some modern day gemstones that have now been discovered. So do check the publishing date if buying this. I had bought some black spinel and it's not included at all in this book despite being a new, popular gemstone.Also, the gemstones are not put in alphabetical order in the book. There is an index which is, but it would make more sense to have the whole book alphabetical in my opinion.A good book for the beginner-medium level gemstone enthusiast or collector. Not deep enough for the more serious enthusiast.

One of the best gemstone books we got so far... The main reason for choosing this book over others was the fact it has gemstone recognition by colour feature so my daughter can easily use it to identify gemstones. Although this is "adult" book with plenty of information she does not need yet, she finds it very interesting and goes through her gemstones almost every day comparing them to those in the book.

Excellent and concise book. Lots of great colour photographs great for beginners and more advanced interest in gemstones. Very good value for money book is a quality publication. Recommended.

This is a joy to peak my regard.

I quite like this book. I am an absolute beginner and I found this book is informative , it gives you the gerneral knowlege you need to know about the gemstone. There are lot of information to digest, there are some technical jargon I need to Google on line , However personally I don't mind as this is how you learn.