Common Minerals and Rocks
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Beginners new to geology who want to build foundational concepts of minerals and rocks
- Students who need public-domain English introductory texts for supplementary reading
- Readers interested in early popular geology writing and the history of the discipline
- Enthusiasts who enjoy observational practice with specimens and field guides
Not a good fit for
- Professionals who need the latest mineral classification and professional identification standards
- Readers expecting abundant color plates and modern illustrations
- Casual readers with no geological background who are unwilling to look up terminology
Reading tips
- Read the minerals section through first, then proceed to the rocks section, building a basic framework in classificatory order.
- Prepare common mineral specimens or field guides, and compare descriptions of color, luster, cleavage, and so on as you read.
- When encountering old-style terminology, consult a modern geological dictionary and note differences from contemporary classification.
- After finishing each category, make brief notes summarizing identification points and origins for easy review.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
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FAQ
Is this book suitable for readers with zero background?
Are the classifications and terminology in the book still usable today?
Can it be read without physical specimens?
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Comments
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About the author
William O. Crosby (1850–1925) was an American geologist and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he focused on structural geology. He is the author of Common Minerals and Rocks, a book that introduces readers to the basic knowledge of common minerals and rocks. Publicly available information about his life and academic career is limited, and existing records mainly concern his teaching institution and research field. Judging from his surviving work, he sought to present specialized geological knowledge in a relatively clear and accessible way, helping beginners and general readers understand the forms, classification, and origins of minerals and rocks. Such writing has some reference value for popularizing basic geological knowledge and usually links him in Chinese library materials with introductory readings on minerals and rocks.
