Simon and Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones

A must have book for those interested in the world of gemmenolgy.Gem cutsand information on fakes or manmade if you prefer.In great detail and with many black and white diagrams and colour illustrations.

This was a great gift purchased for my 13 year old nephew who no doubt will become a know gemologist in the future.

Bought this for my daughter who was learning the Jewellery trade and found it very informative and useful on the less obvious gemstones.

Very informative book more so than DK Gemstones! It has a lot of info on id stones and detailed descriptions of each stone with good photos of stones and inclusions etc to look for. More for the serious student who wants a bit more information than just a picture book. Really good quality and value book get it!!

Always fascinated by sparkling stones, and how and where they are found, informative book, great pictures. Now where do I get my huge diamond from.

okay

Good

and it is a little more technical than the rest (explains things like twinning, establishment of density, calculating specific gravity, cleavage, moh's scale, refractive indices, law of refraction, genesis, cutting, cutting styles etc).it includes gem descriptions in much detail (thou the order in which they are arranged is a mystery to me and really bugs me, as i have to flip and flip until i find what i need).for diamond it includes a table comparing 4 color grading systems used (which is cool).large section on organic gems and synthetics.all in all i see it as a really good (almost) professional level book on gems and precious stones.

This book has a lot of valuable info. Great charts! It can be a little heavy on the technical aspects if your not a gemologist, but if you are studying then this is a great book! Definitely worth having in your library. The quick reference charts in the back are very handy for looking up which RI goes with which colored stones, includes hardness and SG. nice book

The shipping was pretty quick, sooner than the 10 days, as advertised, which made me very happy! The book was a little more worn than what was advertised and an older copy, but it does a lot of clear, beautiful pictures and is has a load of information, about gemstones. I am hoping to get a more updated gem book and one that shows them in rough quality.