Illinois Rocks and Minerals Field Guide

My 6 year old is obsessed with rocks and gems, so this field guide has been a wonderful addition for us. We read it together, he got to see and know about the actual facts and characteristics of the different rocks and minerals. He has been collecting rocks he likes and we plan to go to the mining in our state to do the hands on digging, This guide has really inspired his interest in identifying and learning about rocks in Illinois and has laid a great foundation for future rock hunting adventures. The guide itself is well made, heavily laminated, the pages are thick and the entire book is waterproof, making it easy for outdoor use. It is a bit bigger than pocket size but still very handy to carry around. There are more than 300 images in the guide, all in high resolution and clear, making the rocks and minerals look as if they are right in front of your eyes. The spiral binding makes it easy to flip through the pages smoothly. My son has already come up with many fun activities and projects using this guide.

This rock and mineral identification guide is prepared for field work. The all of the pages are sturdy and laminated with thick plastic. It’s spiral bound making the pages easy to flip through, as well as leave open on a selected page.It’s definitely waterproof and dirt proof. It can easily be cleaned off by wiping it down. The thick pages do not easily bend or fold.The content of this identification guide is great too.This book focuses on rocks and mineral found in Illinois. I think it’s still useful for other ares of the country though.The guide tells you where in Illinois the listed rocks are found. That’s the only part that’s not as helpful if you’re in a different state. It lists fairly precise details as to each items location, such as the specific mine (if applicable) or county.The guide has color photos of each rock that are clear with easy to see details.It lists the chemical formula for each rocks/mineral’s composition.Each rock and mineral has details describing their identifying features. Details listed include, the streak, luster, rarity, crystal systems (cs), magnetism, fluorescence, transparency, color, location, and miscellaneous categories. It also tells you if the item is a rock or mineral (or neither).It has a lot of details that really help to ID an unknown rock or mineral.I think it’s super useful for a beginner (like me). More experienced rock hounds will also find this guide helpful. It’s super easy to quickly flip through to find the properties of your stone.I love how educational it is. It packs a lot of information in.This is a great field identification guide for everyone, but especially those in the state of Illinois.

Nice little field guide for rocks and minerals. The layout is clean and simple, which makes it easy to flip through, and it’s approachable for a wide range of users, including kids as young as 3 and up as well as beginners just getting into rock collecting.The spiral binding and heavy lamination are great for field use. It feels durable and able to handle being tossed in a bag or used outdoors without worry, though the thick pages do make it a bit heavier than you might expect for its size.Content is intentionally streamlined. Each entry is presented in a consistent, easy-to-scan format, which works well for quick reference. I did find myself wishing for a bit more depth in places, especially around how rocks and minerals typically appear in natural settings, and alternative ways to identify them beyond standard mineral characteristics. It’s organized alphabetically, which is straightforward, though there isn’t an additional index or visual key to help narrow things down in the field.Overall, this works best as a simple, well-organized companion guide rather than a standalone deep reference. If you think of it as a “quick look” or spark-notes style guide to bring along on outings, it does that job well

I just love these laminated rock hunting books. They have incredible detail inside. Each heavily laminated page is thoroughly detailed with pictures and in-depth descriptionsHeavy on detail, this weatherproof book is perfect for both amateurs and professionals. A great, sturdy book for the rock lover in your life. Well made, covers a lot of material, and a great value for the price.

This is the fourth book in this series I get for my explorer daughter. They are Excellently built and of good quality, truly a field book.The colors are clear and vibrant, the laminate hard and stiff. Speaking of quality and durability.This version from IL really has a lot to offer, I take my girl on the hike paths and we try to find similar rocks. She loves it!!.Excellent as a teaching aid or to wake interest in little ones for science and materials.Absolutely a good value.

I absolutely love this field guide. The lamination is nice and thick, but the pages are still flexible and the spiral is nice and thick and I'm not worried about it coming unbound. There's so much great info in this booklet, on rock formation and identification, plus specific information on certain rocks found in Illinois, plus there's one for every state.

You get 300 pics of 140 rocks. I have a larger version of this book that I have had for some time. It was always helpful and this new book is meant specifically for Illinois rocks and it is a fine example of good craftsmanship and just pure knowledge of rocks to help you identify what you just picked up off the ground or just fished out of the lake or a stream. It s also a smaller size than my original rock book which makes it easier to stuff into your backpack. This is a definite keeper. If you see other state specific versions of this rock book, pick them up and you will have a wonderful library of rocks and how to decipher the construction of them. This brings my total of rock books to six now and I am prepared for any rock hounding trip to Illinois, New York, Florida, Texas or California and just the good old USA in general. Excellent value, great construction, and great information included in this book and all books from this source.

I love this series and I now have a book (Illinois) from my childhood rock hunting area, the Midwest. It is a great field guide, with laminated pages in a spiral binder to protect from weather and makes it easy to find your rock. This marvelous book also has a disclaimer: “With its abbreviated format it can only provide a basic overview… and cannot cover every aspect… However, my experience is that this covers a wealth of facts, including over 140 rocks and minerals with information on color, crystal systems, fluorescence, hardness, location in the state, luster, magnetism, rarity, streak, transparency, and trivia (e.g., celestine is “The main source of strontium used to make red fireworks”, or clinoptilolite is “Used in cat litter for its amazing odor control power”. Read every entry to increase your knowledge; it is good for experienced rockhounds and amateurs. For example, amethyst is a type of quartz and is not under Amethyst, but under, um (flips through book), oh, Quartz (Amethyst). This book, in addition to rocks and minerals, includes one fossil: petrified wood. I wish this series included other fossils, and formations like geodes. Rock chasing—note that rocks do not usually move fast, but they hide well—is a lot easier with these books.

This reference on Rocks and minerals for the state of Illinois is an amazing reference book that is informational as wells as durable to use outdoors on a camping trip. The pages are thickly lamenated and are water-proof as well as kid-proof. I love the detailed information and wonderful pictures.

This is such a great field book, really amazing quality - the pages are heavily laminated making it super durable and protecting the book from water, dirt, etc. It would be hard to damage any of the book considering how thick and sturdy it’s made. I honestly think it would be fine to rinse this book off in the sink because everything is sealed, you would just need to go through and wipe it down good afterward. The information included on the different minerals is also fairly comprehensive when it comes to identification in the field - this isn’t a particularly long book due to how thick the pages are, but the information provided is very helpful with accurate color photos. This would also make a great gift for someone who has just started having an interest in rocks and rock hounding - particularly if they live in Illinois. Great book and a good price considering the quality.

This is the second book I’ve got from this line. The layout is clean, the photos are clear, and it’s very easy to flip through while you’re actually out exploring.One of the biggest highlights is how durable this guide is. The waterproof, laminated pages and spiral binding make it perfect for outdoor use—you don’t have to worry about dirt, moisture, or wear and tear.The identification section is straightforward and beginner-friendly, with clear photos and simple descriptions that make it easy to narrow things down. At the same time, it still feels useful enough for someone with a bit more experience.

We already own the Texas and Florida versions of this guide, but my daughter was interested in guides for other parts of the country for further study. The book is well-built. The spiral binding allows the pages to lay flat, and the heavy lamination means this book can be used in all weather conditions and stand up to years of use. The size is larger than some other field guides, but still convenient for easy packing and carrying.The content in this book, in my estimation, is better if you read through it before traveling. There is a brief overview, and a key to the entry format, but there are two big problems relative to what I expect in a field guide. I’ve made the same comments on my reviews of this company’s other field guides in hopes they will start incorporating them, as I think they’re adding new states to their offerings.First, no maps are included. I like being able to plan a trip and study maps to see what I might encounter; the only indication of location for the rocks and minerals in this book is a single sentence for each entry, and they are often fairly general. Even a couple of maps in the front of the book, perhaps one with geologic strata across the state and the other with numbered locations cross-referenced to individual rock/mineral entries, would have been a big help—one-sentence location information doesn’t narrow down the identification that much, and having to look at a separate reference to figure out where ”Cave-in-the-Rock District” is, for example (especially as a non-native), detracts from the “field guide” claim of this book.Second, the entries are arranged alphabetically by rock/mineral name. this means you have to flip through pretty much every page to compare a specimen in hand with the photos and textual descriptions of the characteristics (magnetism, hardness, streak, etc.). I have many field guides to other items of natural-history interest—plants, animals, etc.—and their content is arranged much more intuitively; for example, groups of wildflowers by color. Something as simple as grouping the rocks and minerals by color would be a great start in identifying specimens in the field. The photos alone may not be sufficient for identification (they aren’t really print-quality) but general color groupings would go a long way to assist the novice rockhound.The guide classifies each entry as “rock” (combination of minerals) “mineral” (pure chemical compounds), or “neither.” The “neither” category piqued my interest so I scanned the entire book to see what was considered neither rock nor mineral. I only noticed one entry—slag—had this classification, in case you too were curious.In summary, this book is nice as an introduction to the types of rocks and minerals found in Illinois, but less useful as a field guide if you aren’t already somewhat familiar with both Illinois, and the rocks and minerals you may find. Intermediate-level rock enthusiasts already familiar with rocks and minerals in general will probably benefit most from this guide.

I have a few of these books on different states. They are GREAT.The size is very handy. The whole book is laminated for outside use. The spiral binding is great also. The info and pics are some of the best.Overall, I highly recommend this brand of books.

Very happy with the book. It will be useful when we go looking for minerals.

She loved it, look like future trips revolve around this book. If she finds the US book, I'll be busy.

He loved it. Great that the pages are laminated and spiral bound.

I'm 91 years old and couldn't resist ordering your book even though I'm confined to quarters. I was a rockhound from a very early age and continued on until I lost my mobility. But I bought this book to pass on to another generation or two. I only wish I'd had it when I was out hounding. It's a wonderful idea and such a useful tool and so portable! Bless you all for creating this wonderful book!
Alice Magos
Wilmette, IL

I only had time to glance thru it but it looks really nice.

Awesome book. High quality and all pages water/dirt resistant.