In  Rocks, Minerals, and Gems , readers will learn about hundreds of rocks, minerals, crystals, and gems that were forged by the most powerful events in prehistory. Explore what specimens look like and how they're used today--readers can use the information to identify rocks and minerals themselves and open up a spectacular new world.  Find out all about star stones and cat's eyes, megagems, and phantom quartz. Discover which rocks fluoresce, which mineral once poisoned an emperor, and which gems are the rarest in the world!  Features a beautiful cover with special effects!

The Roadside Geology series originated in 1972 with  Roadside Geology of the Northern Rockies . Fourteen years later, the Big Sky portion of that book was updated to become  Roadside Geology of Montana , a bright-yellow field guide that soon graced bookshelves across the state. Now, nearly 50 years after the first book, Mountain Press is releasing this completely revised full-color second edition that, like so many things in Montana, is big. But consider this: no other place in the world has such amazingly diverse and well-exposed rocks with such dramatic stories. For example, Montana lies at the northern edge of the Yellowstone...

Active volcanoes, like Rainier and Baker, dominate Washington's western half, and Columbia flood basalt covers much of the eastern half, but scattered here and there are other equally amazing rocks and features that make the Evergreen State one of the most geologically interesting places in the entire country. With this book as your guide, you can find limestone caves, billion-year-old gneiss, glacial moraines, petrified forests, fossilized palm leaves, upside-down sandstone beds, and ancient landslides. Or you can explore the mind-boggling canyons, waterfalls, and scabland carved by the torrential Missoula Floods, check out the glacially...