Gem Identification Made Easy, Fourth Edition: A Hands-on Guide to More Confident Buying & Selling Hardcover – September 1, 2008

Learned so much from this book. Low price. Definitely recommend this

Excellent book for those who need instruction on how to use the equipment associated with identifying gemstones. Definitely NOT the book for those who simply want to use it to go "rock-hounding" or to identify unknown "gem-like" finds outdoors... I purchased it for those reasons so it isn't at all what I needed or wanted, BUT, that error on my part shouldn't be a reason for giving it a "poor eval" as it is an OUTSTANDING BOOK for what it was written for... (read the description carefully!) In any case, I will use it down the line to fully teach me what I need to know for my fledgling jewelry business if I decide to invest in semi-precious stones on the general market. So I heartily recommend it for those looking to know how to use the tools of the trade and to protect themselves from unscrupulous sellers, but NOT for those looking to identify rocks or gemstones in the field or in the raw.

If you want to break into gem identification this book is the only place to start, and I mean that quite literally.I looked long and hard on the internet to see if I could avoid buying a book, and I couldn't. Then I looked forthe best one to start with, and there really were no other contenders.With all that said, it goes farther into it than I wanted to go. If you want, you can follow this book right upto the doors of starting on your gemologist license study.However, even if you are only interested in buying jewerly, and not identifying gems, you really should readthis book, as it will really open your eyes. You will be able to skip the technical parts and read the reallyinteresting things like how long ago simulated gems started appearing, and what was considered gems early on. Itwas quite a surprise to me.All in all I found the book both interesting and useful.

The knowledge in the book is great. It is well presented and easy to read. However, the Kindle edition of this book is terrible in the sense that you can barely use the pictures. Even when viewed on a computer or iPad using Kindle, the pictures are very small and this makes them very hard to use. They are all black and white in the beginning of the book, unclear and not sharp, with extremely high contrast making those at the beginning near useless. Then, later in the book the pictures become color, but instead of having color pictures associated with the terms throughout the book's many pages, the color pictures are all bunched into a short section in the center of the book so you have to keep going to the book marked page on your Kindle. For a hardcover, this may be practical, but for a book like this, the pictures are vital to the subject matter.Alas, we are given tiny pictures out of place, and only some in color. I haven't seen the hardcover version of this book, but my guess is that it must be better based on comments of others.

Although it took over 2 months to get here, I am delighted to finally own this book.This book is spot-on when trying to separate facts from fiction whilst testing gemstones with only a limited number of test gadgets available at ones' disposal.An other strength of this book - in comparison with other gemmological publications - is the fact that it has been written in plain understandable English, and does not waffle on endlessly about scientific stuff, irrelevant to the majority of gem enthusiasts.Finally I love chapter on the correct use of lighting required for gemtesting.

This book starts from a very easy approach with simple wordings without many technical terms. It's really a very good book for beginners who start to use instruments. There are some waste of space (for readers to jot down notes). It would be great if it can include some working theories of the instruments used or a practical example to inspect a gem.

It's not often I spend over $20 on a Kindle book. But this one I will never regret! It's full of detailed information, and yet very practible. I highly recommend this book! I am a trained gemologist, and still found some tips I hadn't been aware of. There is honestly nothing on the market right now that could even come close to compare, and believe me, I've looked!

Not enough pictures, more like a text book about gems.

The book is just what I was looking for, it explains the use of gemological instrumentsand I recommend the book to all who is interestd of gems

For anyone interested in the hobby lapidary and jewelry buying, this book is a very good resource to have with you. It helps explain what to look for between authentic and synthetic jewels and gemstones, and is a must have companion to take along with you as a reference book. Written by professional jewelers, it is self explanatory for layman language and use. Rather someone is just getting started, has an interest, or even a professional gemology student under training, this book is a must have for your jewelry reference. IT explains the basic instruments used in jewelry identification, different cuts, how to look for inclusions in gemstones, and how to spot fakes in jewelry.Rather a serious jewelry buyer, trader or seller, or just a book for interesting reading, this is a very interesting read.

Very Practical! Gem Identification Made Easy: A Hands-On Guide to More Confident, Gem Identification Made Easy: A Hands-On Guide to More Confident

Libro interessante e completo, con un approccio tecnico per affrontare l'identificazione delle gemme fornendo le basi anche a chi non le ha.