Earth is vibrantly alive and full of wisdom for those who learn to listen.

Earth has been reinventing itself for more than four billion years, keeping a record of its experiments in the form of rocks. Yet most of us live our lives on the planet with no idea of its extraordinary history, unable to interpret the language of the rocks that surround us. Geologist Marcia Bjornerud believes that our lives can be enriched by understanding our heritage on this old and creative planet.

Contrary to their reputation, rocks have eventful lives-and they intersect with our own in surprising ways. In Turning to Stone, Bjornerud reveals how rocks are the hidden infrastructure that keep the planet functioning, from sandstone aquifers purifying the water we drink to basalt formations slowly regulating global climate.

Bjornerud's life as a geologist has coincided with an extraordinary period of discovery in the geosciences. From an insular girlhood in rural Wisconsin, she found her way to an unlikely career studying mountains in remote parts of the world and witnessed the emergence of a new understanding of the Earth as an animate system of rock, air, water and life. We are all, most fundamentally, Earthlings and we can find existential meaning and enduring wisdom in stone.

Created for those who love exploring Lake Michigan's shores, this guide is your go-to for identifying rocks.Explore this complete visual guide of shoreline stones with detailed descriptions and characteristics, alongside invaluable tips, tricks, and essential tools for confident beachcombing. In addition, discover ideas for rock crafting, including tumbling, hand-sanding, and an easy at-home hardness test. Let this book guide and inspire your rockhounding adventures, turning nature exploration into life-long memories.

Fully revised and updated, this book provides detailed directions and GPS coordinates to the best rockhounding sites in Oregon, with valuable tips on what tools to bring and how to conduct your search. Comprehensive lists of minerals or fossils for each site and excellent color photos will help you know what to look for and to identify what you've found. Information on clubs, rock shops, museums, and special attractions are provided. Rockhounding Oregon is a must-have for anyone interested in collecting their own minerals, gems, and fossils in the region.

Get this must-have guide for Michigan, featuring full-color photographs and information to help you identify rocks and minerals.

Identify and collect rocks and minerals with the perfect guide to the Great Lake State! With this famous field guide by Dan R. Lynch and Bob Lynch, field identification is simple and informative. The book features comprehensive entries for 96 rocks and minerals, from common rocks to rare finds. That means you're more likely to identify what you've found. The authors know rocks and took their own full-color photographs to depict the detail needed for identification--no more guessing from line drawings. The field guide's easy-to-use format helps you to quickly find what you need to know and where to look.

Inside you'll find:

• 96 specimens: Only Michigan rocks and minerals
• Quick Identification Guide: Identify rocks and minerals by color and common characteristics
• Range/occurrence maps: See where each specimen is commonly found
• Professional photos: Crisp, stunning images

Michigan Rocks & Minerals includes beautiful photography, relevant information, and the authors' expert insights. With this book in hand, identifying and collecting is fun and informative!

Rocks, Minerals, and Geology of the Pacific Northwest is a comprehensive field guide to the region's most common and distinctive rocks, minerals, and fossil types found in the region. Each entry has color photography that shows a range of possibilities in appearance and a description of the defining physical properties and textures. Lists of minerals organized by other physical properties like habit, hardness, and cleavage are included.

• Covers Oregon and Washington
• Describes and illustrates more than 100 minerals and rocks
• 400 photographs, plus additional illustrations, tables, and maps
• Includes 40 landscape features viewable along trails in Washington and Oregon

Get this must-have guide for Arizona, featuring full-color photographs and information to help you identify rocks and minerals.

Identify and collect rocks and minerals with the perfect guide to the Grand Canyon State! With this famous field guide by Dan R. Lynch and Bob Lynch, field identification is simple and informative. The book features comprehensive entries for 106 rocks and minerals, from common rocks to rare finds. That means you're more likely to identify what you've found. The authors know rocks and took their own full-color photographs to depict the detail needed for identification--no more guessing from line drawings. The field guide's easy-to-use format helps you to quickly find what you need to know and where to look.

Inside you'll find:

• 106 specimens: Only Arizona rocks and minerals
• Quick Identification Guide: Identify rocks and minerals by color and common characteristics
• Range/occurrence maps: See where each specimen is commonly found
• Professional photos: Crisp, stunning images

Arizona Rocks & Minerals includes beautiful photography, relevant information, and the authors' expert insights. With this book in hand, identifying and collecting is fun and informative!

Get this must-have guide for Washington and Oregon, featuring full-color photographs and information to help you identify rocks and minerals.

Identify and collect rocks and minerals with the perfect guide to the Pacific Northwest! With this famous field guide by Dan R. Lynch and Bob Lynch, field identification is simple and informative. The book features comprehensive entries for 124 rocks and minerals, from common rocks to rare finds. That means you're more likely to identify what you've found. The authors know rocks and took their own full-color photographs to depict the detail needed for identification--no more guessing from line drawings. The field guide's easy-to-use format helps you to quickly find what you need to know and where to look.

Inside you'll find:

• 124 specimens: Only Washington and Oregon rocks and minerals
• Quick Identification Guide: Identify rocks and minerals by color and common characteristics
• Range/occurrence maps: See where each specimen is commonly found
• Professional photos: Crisp, stunning images

Rocks & Minerals of Washington & Oregon includes beautiful photography, relevant information, and the authors' expert insights. With this book in hand, identifying and collecting is fun and informative!

This must-have guide for Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario features full-color photographs and information to help readers identify rocks and minerals.

Get the perfect guide to rocks and minerals of the Lake Superior region With the new edition of this famous guide by Bob Lynch and Dan R. Lynch, field identification is simple and informative. This book features comprehensive entries for 75 rocks and minerals, from common rocks to rare finds. That means you're more likely to identify what you've found. The authors know rocks and took their own full-color photographs to depict the detail needed for identification--no more guessing from line drawings. The entries are organized by area, so you can find rocks unique to each state or common to all three. The field guide's easy-to-use format helps you to quickly find what you need to know and where to look.

Inside you'll find:

• 75 specimens of the Lake Superior region
• Quick Identification Guide: Identify rocks and minerals by color and common characteristics
• Range/occurrence maps to show where each specimen is commonly found
• Professional photos: Crisp, stunning images

This second edition includes updated photographs, expanded information, and even more of the authors' expert insights. With this book in hand, identifying and collecting is fun and informative.

Rocks and minerals have captivated the human imagination for centuries. Crystals, Rocks, and Gemstones explores the most interesting and illuminating facts about these precious treasures, from how rocks form and why gems come in different colors, to what makes a diamond valuable and why people feel a spiritual connection with crystals. Did you know that fossils made entirely out of iridescent opal have been found? Or that the ancient Egyptians believed that adorning mummies with emeralds ensured safe passage to the afterlife?

With gorgeous illustrations on every page, this covetable guide delves into the natural history, uses, and cultural significance of over 80 stones, their place in our history, and our fascination with these gifts of the earth. Perfect for lovers of nature, rock collectors, and crystal afficionados, Crystals, Rocks, and Gemstones will delight and inspire readers of all ages.

Get the perfect guide to rocks and minerals of the Pacific Coast

Keep this tabbed booklet close at hand on your next rock-hunting adventure. Based on Dan R. Lynch and Bob Lynch's best-selling field guides and featuring 52 of the most common and desirable rocks and minerals along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington, the booklet is organized by rocks/minerals and then by general appearance for quick and easy identification. Narrow your choices by appearance, and view photos of just a few specimens at a time. The easy-to-use format means you'll quickly find what you need to know. Plus, the quick guide is much easier to use than laminated foldouts, and the tear-resistant pages help to make the book durable in the field.

Easy to use and lavishly illustrated, this new and completely revised and expanded edition of Collecting Rocks, Gems, and Minerals is designed with beginners in mind, yet filled with valuable technical information for seasoned collectors. This guide takes you from being simply someone who enjoys rocks to a knowledgeable enthusiast in no time and features:

- An easy-to-use, quick reference format arranged by category and color of stone
- 800+ beautiful color photographs
- Values and tips for locating, buying and collecting
- Both lapidary and mineral display materials
- Decades of rock-collecting know-how of the author
Foreword by Johann Zenz, world-renowned agate expert, author and lecturer.

• Features 60 outstanding rockhounding sites
• Emphasizes rockhounding basics, sustainable collecting, and Leave No Trace principles
• Each location features an overview of the area's geologic history along with what types of rocks and fossils you may find

In addition to detailed information on where exactly to begin a rock hunt, every location features an overview of the area's geologic history and age, what types of rocks are worth finding there, needed tools, land manager, and collection limits. Clear driving directions with GPS coordinates, road quality and trip safety information, best season to go, and an informative map round out each description.

Whether you are a geology enthusiast or a die-hard rockhound, a fine arts jeweler or a lifelong pebble puppy, I wrote this book with every type of rock-lover in mind. Out here, interesting rocks are everywhere. Let's go find them.--FROM THE INTRODUCTION

Mineral collecting by amateur rockhounds has never been more popular. Old quarries, road cuts, and exposed landscapes are being examined by new generations of minerals enthusiasts. Each needs a comprehensive guidebook with clear photographs and accurate data. This is it.

In a thick but handy format, more than 700 different minerals and rocks are grouped by color (for ease of location in the book) -- blue, red, yellow, brown, green, white and black crystals; brown and gray sedimentary rocks; and meteorites for anyone lucky enough to find one.

Each has a picture -- four to a page -- opposite detailed but clear data:

• Chemical formula
• Hardness
• Color
• Density
• Lustre
• Cleavage
• Fracture
• Tenacity
• Crystal form
• Similar minerals and where they are likely to occur. And many will have a diagram of its crystal form -- up to four, for fluorite, for example.

The Minerals Encyclopedia is unusual for the number of minerals it covers: more than 700 in 448 pages, with a useful glossary, an introduction to mineral collecting, printed front and back flaps that offer quick reference in the field, and a measuring rule on the back cover. This is a superior reference for rockhounds, geology students and outdoors people with an interest in what's under their feet.

Do you love rocks and gems? Are you a geology enthusiast? This informative guidebook by professional lapidary artist and outdoor recreation guide Alison Jean Cole shows you that beautiful rocks can be found anywhere. You'll be expertly guided through the practice of rockhounding (looking for rocks) while learning how to be gentle on the earth.

Unlike traditional rock guides, which take readers to well-trodden locations in each state, this book can be used anywhere in the United States or Canada. You'll be guided through the process of becoming an adept rockhound, including:

• How to read geologic maps and way-find
• How to consider the ethics of rock collecting
• Developing your personal tastes in rocks and building a collection

The definitive guide to rocks and minerals, completely updated for the fifth edition, includes 385 color photographs showing rocks, minerals, and geologic formations. Hundreds of minerals are described, with details such as geographic formations. Hundreds of minerals are described, with details such as geographic distribution, physical properties, chemical composition, and crystalline structures.

This handy identification guide to the most common kinds of rocks and minerals offers concise and fascinating information on:

- Physical and chemical properties
- Origins and geologic significance
- Gems and semiprecious stones
- How to find and collect specimens

Illustrated in full color throughout, Rocks, Gems and Minerals is a gem of a guide for rockhounds and mineral collectors!

Find agates on your next trip to the Oregon Coast

Agate Hunting on the Oregon Coast takes an in-depth look at the 40 best beaches that you can hunt for agates, jaspers, fossils, petrified wood, and other natural treasures. This complete guide covers the entire coastline from north to south, and it holds nothing back. A beginner who has never visited Oregon will get as much from this book as an experienced beachcomber.

Secret spots, safety guides, tips and tricks, dozens of color photos and detailed site maps will guide you through safe fun for everyone from the solo adventurer to the family looking to make some memories.

Agate Hunting on the Oregon Coast will help put you on productive ground and ensure a successful rockhounding adventure on your next visit.

Practical, concise, and easy to use, Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals contains everything that the rock and mineral enthusiast needs to know. This field guide is divided into two large sections--one devoted to minerals and one to rocks, each prefaced by a comprehensive introduction that discusses formation, chemistry, and more. All 377 entries, beautifully illustrated with color photographs and helpful visual symbols, provide descriptions and practical information about appearance, classification, rarity, crystal formation, mode of occurrence, gravity of mineral, rock chemistry, modal classification fields, formational environments, grain sizes of rocks, and much more.

Whether you are a serious collector or an information-seeking amateur, this incomparably beautiful, authoritative guide will prove an invaluable reference.