Minerals & Gemstones of Southern Africa by Bruce Cairncross. Penguin Random House South Africa and StrunkNature, www.strunknatureclub.co.za. 320 pages; 2022; R450 (about $27 US) (softbound).

Abstract

there were approximately two hundred mineral species accepted by IMA for which defining information had not been yet published. These are tabulated alphabetically in the section that follows. Compiling and periodically revising alphabetical listings of several thousand minerals would appear to be simple work compared to rearranging and combining them into related groups based on compositional and structural features. An alphabetical listing of groups, related subgroups, and series begins on page 324 with the Acanthite Group and ends on page 421 with the Zippeite Group. Each member is given by name, formula, and in some instances crystal system where appropriate. One family of species, the sulfosalts, is pesky and resists efforts at simple classification and grouping. This has resulted in an IMA Sulfosalt Committee, whose current work on sulfosalt systematics is presented as the closing section of the Glossary. The Glossary has, of course, become an indispensable reference for the serious mineral collector and professional mineralogist. For a volume of its type, it is unusually well prepared and edited. There will, no doubt, be those who carefully search its thousands of pieces of data for errors, and, of course, a few will be found. However, as in the past, the percentage of errors to total information will be tiny indeed, and a tabulation of serious issues will be taken into account in future editions, the next anticipated to appear in about four years. As the science and overall popularity of mineralogy grow, so will the Glossary, as well it should. It is a good buy at any price. Dr. Robert B. Cook Auburn University Auburn, Alabama