Mobile Rock & Gem Society Library

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Our Online Catalog is available to search for books and DVD's in the library.

Club members may check out a book or DVD for one month at a time. Please contact Ken Furr at mrgslibrary@gmail.com for information to check out the book or DVD of your choice.

Below are recent books added to the MRGS Library, with descriptions and links to the online catalog:

  • A collection of my best Gemstone Faceting Designs Volume 1
    By Andrew Ian Brown ~ Call #: 736.2028
    This book contains a collection of the author’s finest faceting designs, taking several years to complete. It provides more than 50 optimized patterns in a range of shapes and introduces a new solid design concept known as ‘fusion’. The ‘fusion’ concept is an adaptable, high performing design principle that empowers the faceter to achieve well balanced, strong performing cuts. It is termed ‘fusion’ as it balances odd symmetry with even symmetry, to create a true ‘fusion’ between performance and design.

    The author believes that by considering gem faceting designing an art form, new ground can be explored, and accounts for some of the more bespoke designs contained within the publication.

    Overall, the author has been mindful to include designs that will appeal to and benefit most faceters, including:

    • 50 designs for the commonly used 96 index

    • A selection of designs for the 72, 84, and 120 indexes

    • Optimized angles to work in materials with refractive indices over a wide range

    • Frosted designs like the butterfly on the cover and 7 pointed stars

    • 16 Round designs not including frosted designs

    • 7 Square designs including square cushions

    • 4 Trillion and 2 heart designs

    • 10 Oval and 3 pear designs

    • 6 Rectangular designs including rectangular cushions

    • 3 Hexagons and other designs with assorted shapes

  • A collection of my best Gemstone Faceting Designs Volume 2
    By Andrew Ian Brown ~ Call #: 736.2028
    This book contains a second collection of the author’s finest faceting designs. It provides more than 60 new optimized patterns in a range of shapes with detailed instructions on how to cut them in a wide range of gem materials. When designing the author pays attention to maximizing factors like brilliance, sparkle, scintillation, and contrast. Of particular note are the pavilion reflection replication patterns, these produce some stunningly beautiful gems, an example of which is on the front cover. By considering gem faceting design an art form, new ground can be explored, and accounts for some of the more bespoke designs contained within the publication.

    Overall, the author has been mindful to include designs that will appeal to and benefit most faceters, including:

    • 57 Designs for the commonly used 96 index

    • A selection of designs for the 84 and 120 indexes

    • Optimized angles to work in materials with refractive indices over a wide range

    • 5 Frosted designs, including both crown and pavilion frosting

    • 18 Round designs not including frosted designs

    • 11 Square designs including square cushions

    • 7 Trillion/triangular and 4 pear designs

    • 4 Marquise designs including diamond shapes

    • 3 Hexagon and 8 other designs with assorted shapes

  • Opal Maker: Gallery of Opals Vol. 1 Before and After
    By José Peña ~ Call #: 739.27
    W e are pleased to add this book to our library, which is authored José Peña, who had joined MRGS and showed great interest in learning about rocks, gems and lapidary. By using our workshop, attending William Holland classes, and his personal experience, he quickly expanded his knowledge and skills. Now he has authored this book on opals with the beginner in mind. As he notes: “The goal of this book is to share my experiences and encourage people who would like to start making opals.” He helps the beginner with how to get started, how to look for and grade opals, and the tools needed to make opals beautiful. The book is full of before and after images, which provide the beginner a good understanding of how an opal will change from rough to polished. Our resident opal expert, Jim Darnell, had the following to say his book review in the October, 2024 Cabber Gabber: “The love and time spent in bringing out their majesty cannot be described better by José learning this art. This book is worth the time to read and see all the stones he worked on.” So if you are interested in making opals, and you are ready to get started, be sure to check out this book.

  • Ultimate Rockopedia: The Most Complete Rocks & Minerals Reference Ever (Junior Rockhounds)
    By Steve Tomecek ~ Call #: 551.02
    This book provides an introduction to the origin of our rocky planet, then moves on to explore the world of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. You'll discover how they form, what makes them unique, and most importantly, how to identify them in your own backyard. Complete with the origin and description of some of the most important rock-forming minerals. Each chapter includes dozens of profiles of amazing rocks and minerals, fun facts, sidebars, photo galleries, and more. For grade level 2-5.

  • My Book of Fossils: A fact-filled guide to prehistoric life (DK)
    By Dr. Dean Lomax ~ Call #560
    This intriguing fact-filled guide into ancient times will have you learning about where fossils come from and where they have been found. This primal book about earliest life includes:

    • A definitive guide to fossils, featuring 50 profiles of the most incredible discoveries in paleontology

    • A science-focused and fact-packed route into learning about prehistoric life

    • Top-quality photography to show fossils in fine detail and highlight key features

    • Age-appropriate with large pictures and clear text

    • Pronunciation guide for each fossil animal or plant name

    • Fact files for each featured fossil give the key information, such as size, time period and location

    This engrossing children's book about fossils and dinosaurs is filled with all you need to know about ancient fossils as well as how to contain recently discovered species. It will help even the biggest fossils fans learn something brand new! This prehistoric book contains remarkably phenomenal photographs that can be studied in detail, as well as pronunciation guides to help with those tricky names.