Gemstones: Understanding, Identifying, Buying Hardcover – March 16, 2011

Excellent, particularly (but not just) for beginners. Considering the book is only 160 pages, it is packed with tons of useful information. I like to shop estate sales and antique stores and wanted at least a fighting chance at recognizing fakes. This book makes me feel a little less vulnerable.Besides a lot of interesting tidbits on individual gems, the book has appendices and other information that are extremely helpful for quick reference. Here is a bullet list of (in my opinion) the books high points.• A Glossary of terms used in describing gems and their properties.• A list of color vs type of gem. As a total novice, this is where I start identifying things I’ve already bought. It at least helped me narrow down the possible stones for my web search on images. I am pretty sure my main mystery stone, is genuine yellow citrine.• A complete list of gemstone properties (i.e specific gravity, refractive index, hardness & crystal form.) Way beyond my needs but great info.• A translation table (between English, German, French, Italian and Spanish) on some of the more common terms & descriptive info.• A one-page list of reputable web sites, which is half the battle of buying.• I am big on Marquise cuts. This book has no marquise pics but it does have line drawings of the cuts and crystal systems• History, Myths and Legends was an interesting section that was totally unexpected. It even touched briefly on crystal healing theory and beliefs.• A chart (using diamond as the base reference) on size per carat. e.g. I had no idea “a 1 carat ruby is 13.35% smaller overall than a 1 carat diamond”.• Hallmarks for the different base and plate metals, including traditional fineness symbols and Assay offices stamps. I found out one of my rings is platinum, not a different fineness for silver as I originally thought.• A section on organic gems that I did not even know were classified as gems (i.e. ivory, abalone, jet & coral).• Other references for further reading• Last but not least the book has 3 value charts. One for Tanzanite, one for diamonds and one for gemstones.So much packed into so few pages. A great bargain by anyone’s standards

Very informative. Could be longer. Easy to understand and entertaining.

Pristine pictures IN COLOR, alphabetical order, it explains everything about the identification of precious and some semiprecious gemstones, gives you a look at the machines, gives you some history on gemstones and their various uses throughout history, the gems are bunched under what stone (Example: instead of Citrine, Amethyst, Ametrine, it says in large QUARTZ, then identifies each color and it's name) towards the back is a guide of where the highest quality stones have been mined, there is even a metallurgy guide in the back about how to identify what metal you have by the symbol on it. I must have read it a dozen times and still refer to it when I need to. MONEY WELL SPENT!

I bought this book and received the volume immediately. The book is slender but has a great set of pictures of the different gems. The book is set up like a dictionary with a discussion of each major (and many minor) gem usually with a review of how to identify it and how to distinguish some of the more common fakes.My only objection is that the book wasn't long enough.I liked the book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who loves gems.

A pretty good book, especially the opening sections about the history of gemstones and the methods used to identify diamonds.

This book is the best self study course on Gemstones. It covers all Gemstone catogories with pictures. It gives tips on identifying natural stones. Also, it has useful guidelines for buyers of the Gemstones.

If you need a book on Gemstones, this is the one. Awesome pictures and great detail on discribing the many different gems around the world. If you are a collector of gemstones, this is a MUST HAVE!"

An excellent book especially for beginers. Very detailed information. Highly recommended for those who are interested in stones.