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Coal
Nature and Culture
Ralph Crane
Reaktion Books, 2021
While concerns about climate change have focused negative attention on the coal industry in recent years, as descendants of the industrial revolution we have all benefitted from the mining of the black seam. Coal has significantly influenced the course of human history and our social and natural environments. This book takes readers on a journey through the extraordinary artistic responses to coal, from its role in the works of writers such as Émile Zola, D. H. Lawrence, and George Orwell; to the way it inspired the work of painters, including J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh; to the place of coal in film, song, and folklore; as well as the surprising allure of coal tourism. Strikingly illustrated, Coal provides engaging and informative insight into the myriad ways coal has affected our lives.
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Colorado Gem Trails
And Mineral Guide
Richard M. Pearl
Ohio University Press, 1972
This famous book takes you on an extensive gem and mineral collecting tour of Colorado, revealing the interesting places where Nature has stored her treasures.

Detailed directions are given for reaching the noted as well as the little-known localities in all sections of this great mineral-producing state. Included are numerous mileage logs never before published, and many sketch maps made especially for this book. A unique system arranges the localities along segments of the main highways.

Latest information is given on local travel and collecting conditions and land ownership, so much desired by collectors who want to make the best use of their time. Gem and mineral societies that welcome visitors — museums that display outstanding collections — are all described. Official maps and references to the literature are listed.
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From Mineralogy to Geology
The Foundations of a Science, 1650-1830
Rachel Laudan
University of Chicago Press, 1987
"A fine treatment of this critical time in geology's history. Although it goes against our standard histories of the field, Laudan defends her views convincingly. Her style is direct, with carefully reasoned personal opinions and interpretations clearly defined."—Jere H. Lipps, The Scientist
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Gold
Nature and Culture
Rebecca Zorach and Michael W. Phillips Jr.
Reaktion Books, 2016
Gleaming and perfect, gold has beguiled humankind for many millennia, attracting treasure hunters, adorning the living and the dead, and symbolizing wealth, power, divinity, and eternity. This book offers a lively, critical look at the cultural history of this most regal metal, examining its importance across many cultures and time periods and the many places where it has been central, from religious ceremonies to colonial expeditions to modern science.
           
Rebecca Zorach and Michael W. Phillips Jr. cast gold as a substance of paradoxes. Its softness at once makes it useless for most building projects yet highly suited for the exploration of form and the transmission—importantly—of images, such as the faces of rulers on currency. It has been the icon of value—the surest bet in times of uncertain markets—yet also of valuelessness, something King Midas learned the hard way. And, as Zorach and Phillips detail, it has been at the center of many clashes between cultures all throughout history, the unfortunate catalyst of countless blood lusts. Ultimately, they show that the questions posed by our relentless desire for gold are really questions about value itself. Lavishly illustrated, this book offers a shimmering exploration of the mythology, economy, aesthetics, and perils at the center of this simple—yet irresistible—substance. 
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Great Lakes Rocks
4 Billion Years of Geologic History in the Great Lakes Region
Stephen E. Kesler
University of Michigan Press, 2019
The geologic story of the Great Lakes region is one of the most remarkable of any place on Earth. Great Lakes Rocks takes readers on this fascinating journey through geologic history, beginning with an investigation of the surface features—the hills and valleys, waterfalls and caves, and the Great Lakes themselves—that we encounter on a daily basis. From there the book digs deeper into the past, and readers learn about the amazing techniques geologists have used to reconstruct the events that shaped this region millions and even billions of years before humans set foot on Earth. Throughout, the book gives special attention to the link between the region’s geology and its modern history, including the impacts of geology on settlement patterns as well as the development of industries and the present-day economy. Other discussed topics include natural hazards that are geologic in nature, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, and coastal erosion, as well as information on rocks, minerals, and ancient life seen in fossils. Written for nonspecialist readers, this book provides a detailed but easy-to-follow introduction to the geology of the Great Lakes region, and it is an ideal fit for introductory geology courses, including those aimed at nonscience majors.
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Iowa's Minerals
Their Occurance, Origins, Industries and Lore
Paul Garvin
University of Iowa Press, 1998

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Mineralogy of Arizona
John W. Anthony, Sidney A. Williams, Richard A. Bideaux, and Raymond W. Grant
University of Arizona Press, 1995
Long awaited by professional geologists and amateur rockhounds alike, the new Mineralogy of Arizona is a completely revised and greatly expanded edition of a book first published in 1977 and updated in 1982. New material covers 232 minerals discovered in Arizona since the first edition, including 28 first identified in the state. Also new is a section on the history of Arizona mining and mineralogy, which provides context for understanding the significance of mineral discoveries and production since prehistoric times.

For nearly 20 years,Mineralogy of Arizona has been respected as the definitive reference on Arizona minerals. Now completely revised and greatly expanded with breathtaking new color photographs, the third edition covers 232 minerals discovered in Arizona since the first edition, including 28 first identified in the state.
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Mineralogy of Arizona, Fourth Edition
Raymond W. Grant, Ronald B. Gibbs, Harvey W. Jong, Jan C. Rasmussen, and Stanley B. Keith
University of Arizona Press, 2022
Completely revised and expanded, this fourth edition covers the 986 minerals found in Arizona, showcased with breathtaking new color photographs throughout the book. The new edition includes more than 200 new species not reported in the third edition and previously unknown in Arizona.

Chapters in this fourth edition of Mineralogy of Arizona cover gemstones and lapidary materials, fluorescent minerals, and an impressive catalog of mineral species. The authors also discuss mineral districts, including information about the geology, mineralogy, and age of mineral occurrences throughout the state. The book includes detailed maps of each county, showing the boundaries and characteristics of the mineral districts present in the state.

Arizona’s rich mineral history is well illustrated by the more than 300 color photographs of minerals, gemstones, and fluorescent minerals that help the reader identify and understand the rich and diverse mineralogy of Arizona. Anyone interested in the mineralogy and geology of the state will find this the most up-to-date compilation of the minerals known to occur in Arizona.
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Minerals of Nevada
Stephen B. Castor
University of Nevada Press, 2012

Nevada has an extraordinary diversity of minerals, some of them unique to the state and some the focus of human exploitation for millennia. Minerals of Nevada is the first synoptic catalog of Nevada minerals, listing every mineral found in the state along with the places where they occur. The book includes the geologic history of the state, the history of mining in Nevada, descriptions of significant mineral deposits and mining districts, maps, and an album of striking color photographs of rare and important minerals.

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Pearl
Nature's Perfect Gem
Fiona Lindsay Shen
Reaktion Books, 2022
From their creation in the maw of mollusks to lustrous objects of infatuation and conflict, a revealing look at pearls’ dark history.
 
This book is a beautifully illustrated account of pearls through millennia, from fossils to contemporary jewelry. Pearls are the most human of gems, both miraculous and familiar. Uniquely organic in origin, they are as intimate as our bodies, created through the same process as we grow bones and teeth. They have long been described as an animal’s sacrifice, but until recently their retrieval often entailed the sacrifices of enslaved and indentured divers and laborers. While the shimmer of the pearl has enticed Roman noblewomen, Mughal princes, Hollywood royalty, mavericks, and renegades, encoded in its surface is a history of human endeavor, abuse, and aspiration—pain locked in the layers of a gleaming gem.
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Residual Governance
How South Africa Foretells Planetary Futures
Gabrielle Hecht
Duke University Press, 2023
In Residual Governance, Gabrielle Hecht dives into the wastes of gold and uranium mining in South Africa to explore how communities, experts, and artists fight for infrastructural and environmental justice. Hecht outlines how mining in South Africa is a prime example of what she theorizes as residual governance—the governance of waste and discard, governance that is purposefully inefficient, and governance that treats people and places as waste and wastelands. She centers the voices of people who resist residual governance and the harms of toxic mining waste to highlight how mining’s centrality to South African history reveals the links between race, capitalism, the state, and the environment. In this way, Hecht shows how the history of mining in South Africa and the resistance to residual governance and environmental degradation is a planetary story: the underlying logic of residual governance lies at the heart of contemporary global racial capitalism and is a major accelerant of the Anthropocene.
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Stones
A Material and Cultural History
Cally Oldershaw
Reaktion Books, 2023
The story of our deep and multifaceted connections to geological matter—the very bedrock of our lives.
 
From small beach pebbles to huge megaliths, stones have been revered, collected, enhanced, sculpted, or engraved for practical and artistic purposes throughout the ages. They have been used to delineate boundaries and to build homes and shelters and utilized for cooking, games, and competitions. This surprising and fascinating compendium of stone facts, myths, and stories reveals the impact and importance of stones in our history and culture. Cally Oldershaw introduces the science in an accessible way and covers the aesthetic appeal of stones, their practical uses, and metaphysical properties. With an eclectic mix of examples from the Stone Age to the present, Stones engagingly excavates the story of this essential matter.
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Unearthing the Underworld
A Natural History of Rocks
Ken McNamara
Reaktion Books, 2023
A geological saga that digs deep, revealing how even the most ordinary rocks can be stepping stones to the hidden history of our planet.
 
Unearthing the Underworld reveals the hidden world of rocks—the keepers of secrets of past environments, changing climates, and the pulse of life over billions of years. Even the most seemingly ordinary stone can tell us much about the history of this planet, opening vistas of ancient worlds of ice, raging floods, strange unbreathable atmospheres, and prehistoric worlds teeming with life. Remarkably, many types of rocks owe their existence to living organisms—from the remains of bodies of dead animals to rocks formed from rotting ancient forests, or even created by the activity of fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Anything but dull and uninteresting, rocks are intriguing portals that illuminate the secret underworld upon which we live.
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