The CS Book Club

[TreeScientist]

Hi all,
I thought it would be fun and informative to start a thread where we can share our libraries of gemology-related books and discuss our favorites. Let's call it "The CS Book Club." Any and all posts on gem-related books are welcome. Looking forward to seeing everyone's favorites!

 

[TreeScientist]

I'll start with my current library. From left to right in the photo:

• Secrets of the Gem Trade, 2nd Edition by Richard W. Wise
• Gemmology, 3rd Edition by Peter G. Read
• Gemstones of the World, 5th Edition by Walter Schumann
• Gem Identification Made Easy, 6th Edition by Matlins & Bonanno
• Pearl Buying Guide, 6th Edition by Renée Newman
• Tourmaline: A Gemstone Spectrum (Number 3 in the English extraLapis series)
• Beryl and Its Color Varieties (Number 7 in the English extraLapis series)
• Garnet: Great Balls of Fire (Number 11 in the English extraLapis series)
• Colour by Helen Varley, ed.
• Internal World of Gemstones: Documents from Space and Time, 3rd Edition by Eduard Gübelin
• Ruby and Sapphire: A Gemologist's Guide by Richard Hughes, Wimon Manorotkul & E. Billie Hughes
• Ruby and Sapphire: A Collectors's Guide by Richard Hughes
  
• Gemstones: Terra Connoisseur by Vladyslav Yavorskyy
• Burma Gems/Sri Lanka Gems (Dual book set) by Vladyslav Yavorskyy

 

[T L]

Emeralds: A Passionate Guide
Ronald Ringsrud

My Love Affair With Jewelry
Elizabeth Taylor

Any book by Renee Newman

Smithsonian: Rock and Gem

Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones part 1 and 2
David Federman

The series of gemstone books by Fred Ward, but they are smallish for the price.

 

[TreeScientist]

Emeralds: A Passionate Guide
Ronald Ringsrud

My Love Affair With Jewelry
Elizabeth Taylor

Any book by Renee Newman

Smithsonian: Rock and Gem

Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones part 1 and 2
David Federman

The series of gemstone books by Fred Ward, but they are smallish for the price.

Thanks for sharing! What do you think of Ronald Ringsrud's book? It seems to have garnered a lot of praise from other gemologists. I'm not all that interested in emeralds at this point, but down the road I could see adding that book to my library.

 

[T L]

Thanks for sharing! What do you think of Ronald Ringsrud's book? It seems to have garnered a lot of praise from other gemologists. I'm not all that interested in emeralds at this point, but down the road I could see adding that book to my library.

It’s great, focused solely on emeralds, and there’s so much information. The photos don’t always capture the beauty of the stones though, but that’s to be expected. It’s very expensive second hand now.

Here’s a sample chapter
http://www.emeraldpassion.com/sample.htm

 

[TreeScientist]

It’s great, focused solely on emeralds, and there’s so much information. The photos don’t always capture the beauty of the stones though, but that’s to be expected. It’s very expensive second hand now.

Here’s a sample chapter
http://www.emeraldpassion.com/sample.htm

Excellent writing judging by the sample chapter alone. I wonder why it's so expensive second hand. It's still in print and available from both his website and GIA's website.

 

[T L]

Excellent writing judging by the sample chapter alone. I wonder why it's so expensive second hand. It's still in print and available from both his website and GIA's website.

I would double check on that.

 

[TreeScientist]

I would double check on that.

http://www.emeraldpassion.com/order.htm
https://store.gia.edu/Emeralds-A-Passionate-Guide-p/0201120.htm

The limited edition is sold out, but the standard edition is still in stock.

 

[TreeScientist]

Well, I liked that sample chapter so much that I ended up ordering the Ringsrud book. Thanks for being a book enabler @T L. I need more of those in my life.

 

[bmfang]

I use this one:

Gemstones of the World - Walt Schumann

 

[TreeScientist]

I use this one:

Gemstones of the World - Walt Schumann

That's a great book purely for the breadth of gems covered. My 5 year old sister in law (yes, large age gap haha) loves looking through it and trying to pronounce all of the names.

The quality of the pictures is rather poor though. I'm guessing that the photos have not been updated since the original edition in the 1970s. Whoever converted the photos to digital format did a terrible job, as they're all overly dark. I know that it's difficult to capture the beauty of gems in photos, but when you compare photos in the Schumann book to photos in books by Yavorskyy, or even other books from that period like Gübelin's Internal World of Gemstones, the difference in the photo quality is quite stark.

 

[T L]

That's a great book purely for the breadth of gems covered. My 5 year old sister in law (yes, large age gap haha) loves looking through it and trying to pronounce all of the names.

The quality of the pictures is rather poor though. I'm guessing that the photos have not been updated since the original edition in the 1970s. Whoever converted the photos to digital format did a terrible job, as they're all overly dark. I know that it's difficult to capture the beauty of gems in photos, but when you compare photos in the Schumann book to photos in books by Yavorskyy, or even other books from that period like Gübelin's Internal World of Gemstones, the difference in the photo quality is quite stark.

The treatment and synthesis information is extremely outdated in that book.

 

[TreeScientist]

The treatment and synthesis information is extremely outdated in that book.

True, but I don't think anyone buys that book to learn about the latest, cutting-edge gem treatments haha. It's a generalist intro to gemstones. If a reader wants info on gem treatments, they should turn to an academic text covering the specific material in question, i.e., Hughes' works on conundrum for ruby and sapphire treatments.

 

[TreeScientist]

My copy of Ringsrud's Emeralds book just arrived. Thanks for the recommendation @T L! While I've only briefly fingered though it, I can already tell that it is definitely worth the $80.