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Manual of Mineralogy
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Manual of Mineralogy Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Great book, *after* an introduction to the topic...
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Into the 5th week of Mineralogy class, this book *then* became extremely informative - this is not a self-instructional manual, and I do not believe it was intended to be so. Most students will find the writing style in this text a bit intellectually heady, having been written by a distinguished Harvard PhD professor. It could have been written more concisely, perhaps more simplisticly, but all the information is there, and from what I understand, past editions were more comprehensive than this 22nd edition. I personally love this text, and only *after* an introduction to the subject will this text make real sense to the reader. And yes, I agree with the previous posts regarding certain statements about crystal structures that require some sort of base level knowledge of chemistry or physics or math (i.e. symmetry concepts) in order to fully comprehend a particular passage, but that's what you get from an Ivy League PhD-er! I believe this text was designed for the third year student who should already have taken 1 semester each of at least chemistry and calculus. Although calculus isn't necessary for the class, it presupposes that you know and understand some basic conceptual geometry.
I would suggest reading some basic introduction to mineralogy websites before tackling this book. Also, I have found that for the conscientious mineralogy students who possess a "more refined" reading level and who are putting genuine effort into the class, this book is a valuable edition. Other texts simply do not cover as much material as found here, such as x-ray diffraction and optics. Overall meant for students and not the self-taught, although that depends on the individual, but in general I would not recommend this for the beginner who wants to learn on his/her own. Still, a great text. Try getting some olders editions with less sub-subjects edited out for a real comprehensive text! |
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