[.ca] Simon & Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones (ISBN 0671604309)

Interesting but lacking variety:
Went to a gem show and saw that many folks had this book. Made a mistake and bought it here. I had a MUCH MUCH better book titled Gemstones by Cally Hall. The Simon and Schuster book has fascinating sections on how artificial gems are made and such like info (Doesn't include Moissanite.). However, it does not have any info on many many gemstones readily available today, such as Sphene, Sunstone (state gem of Oregon I'm told)and many others. (You can find these in the Simon and Schuster Rocks and Minerals book). If you are only interested in the mainstream gemstones, this book has them. However, as compared to the Cally Hall book, the info is not as well organized nor are the pictures (though mostly very nice) as useful. I will use this as a backup reference book.

Great starter and refresher book:
If you're working in the retail field, as I do selling jewellery, it's a straightforward, exciting, easy to understand guide with gorgeous photos. Also tells you how to spot a lower grade version of a gem. Some great museum photos of organic gems such as coral, ivory, etc. and semi-precious stone sculptures that make you appreciate the beauty of the gems. A standard for salespeople and a perfect reference for shopowners.

Great photography, interesting lore about gemsand minerals:
In addition to be a valuable guide for gem identification, this guide has wonderful color photographs, so useful for proper mineral and gem identification. Each gemstone is listed with density (vital for indentification), crystalline structure, light refraction angle (single or double), chemical makeup and hardness. There is an introductory section that is a good reference on mineral properties, a section on gem cutting, and small historical section. My only objection to this book is that it is incomplete; there are a lot of semiprecious stones like gaspeite, for example that are not listed. So, not a complete reference, but a very good one that covers a wide range of information.

Excellent book:
I've had this book ever since it was published and found it enormously valuable in identifying gems that I was unfamiliar with. Between this book and the accompanying "Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks & Minerals" one has a complete guide to nature's precious gifts of gems. My only critique is that the book needs an update to reflect some of the new semi-precious stones in the market place.

A standard for gemologists!:
This is an excellent gem book. It has gorgeous color pictures on every page. Very informative and easy to understand! I give it a four instead of five only because it doesn't cover many of the rarer gems. However, I do recommend it to beginners and hobbyists!