Customer Reviews:
 Audubon guides are the best September 28, 2007
If you're looking for a terrific field guide with tons of details as well as excellent photos for identification, you'll never be disappointed with Audubon guides.
 Great for the educated September 2, 2007
This is a good book for someone who already understands how to use it. There should be an instruction book to go along with it. It has some fine detail in the photos but not in how to look things up by their name. If I had a degree in geology, I would not have a problem using this one, but I don't, so I'm operating under a severe handicap.Is there a guidebook for the Guidebook?
A more serious field guide June 29, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this book, along with DK/Smithsonian guides to "Rocks & Minerals" and "Gemstones" for my children, one of which is a budding rockhound.
While I am certainly no expert in this area, my very amateur opinion is that this bulky guide is far more scientific and in keeping with traditional field guide format.
The binding is certainly sturdy, and after a short introduction to mineral identification, the book features a photograph of each of the minerals profiled, along with a reference page to the descriptive key that follows. The same is done with rocks.
As a homeschooling mother of two, I would say this book is better for older children or adults with an interest in this field. My 7-yr-old daughter is far more likely to pick up one of the DK/Smithsonian guides (which are separate and less complete) than this one.
I foresee the pages of this book getting a bit more daylight as my children get older.
Highly recommended.
 michaellandonsrock January 26, 2007
6 out of 31 found this review helpful
I've written to the National Audubon society and several geologists concerning an omission in this book.
I can't remember when Michael Landon and I discovered our mutual love of geology, but it remained a constant in our friendship. Shortly before he began to film for his finest role as Jonathan Smith in "Highway to Heaven", Michael Landon and I embarked upon a geological survey of Northern Canada. Using his celebrity influence, Michael Landon was granted a royal charter from Franz Joseph II, then Prince of Liechtenstein, to finance any mining capital should we discover a new gem to add to the Prince's famous gem-trunk.
We eventually found a quiet piece of land within the traditional lands of the Nis'gl't'k people. After spending seven months documenting and learning their language these gentle woodsfolk spoke to us of a cave famous in their stories for being the home of N'gaask'ul'k'ot, or "Gelman." Instinctively, Michael Landon went there, to Gelman's cave. He refused to use anything but a 10 inch hunting knife when quarrying. He furiously knifed at the cave wall for 4 or 6 hours without any apparent consistency to where his knife struck. Suddenly the cave stank. What was the smell? I followed Michael Landon's eyes, and he was using them to look at a gem that lay before his fallow blade. We both knew what we had discovered, but we consulted our Audubon guide. It wasn't listed. In his excitement, Michael Landon first suggested naming it "stinkrock", then "stankrock" and finally "smellrock." I took on a soothing tone to pacify him and delicately suggested we call it the "Landonquicklyite." He put a single finger to his pursed lips, furrowed his brow, squatted, started walking around while squatting, and then eagerly said "let's call it Michael Landon's Rock." Kenneth Waltz later characterised our relationship as having a power imbalance, probably a reason why the gem came to be known among us and in some geological circles as "michaellandonsrock."
The unbearable weight of that memory is comparable to the 10 pounds of michaellandonsrock I carry with me every day. I even put it in the rock tumbler and it looks nice.
So, perhaps my review is biased, but I hope that in the future the Audubon Society will investigate my claim.
 good, but...... December 9, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
We purchased this field guide based on other great reviews. Although it it very thorough.....it is thorough about minerals. 2/3 of the book is about minerals. We wanted to know more about ROCKS. If you love minerals, then this is the guide for you. If you are a rock lover....keep looking.
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