Books, books, glorious books!

O.K. I'm a book addict. If there is a book on my areas of interest, chances are, I've got it or will have. Not just the latest book on whatever, but older books also.

I was reminded of how useful older books are when I recently received the latest offerings from Rocks of Ages (http://www.rxofages.com/). In their listings they have many books that are very hard to find. One in particular is "A System of Mineralogy" by J.D.Dana. This was originally printed in the mid to early 1800's (I know the 2nd edition was in 1844) Any edition up until the 7th edition (1944/52&62) in all three volumes are great. On the 8th edition it all went wrong. It was edited badly, condensed and poorly laid out. Faith was lost in these well respected tomes.

Never underestimate the value of older books. If you want to go gold prospecting, rock hounding or gem testing on a budget. Get an old book! Gold prospecting is big business today, but in a book of 50 -100 years ago, different types of technology were used which are now fairly easy to re-create in a small home workshop. Some old books on gem testing were published before all the flashy equipment was available. They would give instruction on making equipment. I still use a round flask full of copper sulphate solution on occasion as a blue light condenser. I picked this up from a 50's book.

Although they can be very useful, don't forget to keep up to date. If you are gem testing, it's no good relying on out of date information on treatments and synthetics. Just a quick one this time.

Take Care,
Damian