GemLand's Recommended Reading
(chosen not for technicality, but to make you think)
 

Gemology

   Ruby & Sapphire, by Richard W. Hughes, 1997, RWH Publishing
   This beautiful "coffee table" size book is the world's most definitive treatment of the subject.  Ruby and sapphire are both varieties of the mineral corundum, and this book covers every conceivable thing you would ever want to know about them.  For those interested in fine American gemstones, Montana's Yogo Sapphire Mine is covered in great detail.  Worth its price for the pictures alone, the controversial author's way of telling the story of these two legendary gems is both very entertaining and lively.
   You can learn more about it, and even buy it directly from the author, at his excellent website: www.ruby-sapphire.com.

   The Curious Lore Of Precious Stones, by George Frederick Kunz, 1913, Dover Publications
   Talismans, superstitions, amulets, crystal balls, gemstones, legends, history, and more are discussed in detail in the chapters of this old classic.  Dr. Kunz was a gemologist for Tiffany & Company, and was at the time one of America's foremost mineralogists.  If you want to know which stone to wear to cure a hangover, you can find out here.  And why.

Back to Top

Geology

   Roadside Geology of Arizona, by Halka Chronic, 1983, Mountain Press Publishing
   One of the Roadside Geology series, it gives a road by road description of Arizona Geology, with good descriptions of the geology around Phoenix.  Includes a section on Earth's basic geology.

   Geology of Arizona, by Dale Nations and Edmund Stump, 1981, Kendall / Hunt Publishing
   A little more technical than the above book, this book is still highly readable with many good photos and other graphics.  Arizona is the world's best geology classroom, and this book shows why.

   Basin and Range, by John McPhee, 2003, Noonday Press
   Although this book is more about the Nevada area, the geologic principles it covers apply to southern Arizona also, and it is very readable, woven together with stories about people.  It is included as a section in the larger book called "Annals of the Former World", also by John McPhee, which covers North America, and might appeal to those with an interest in the geology of the whole continent.

   Cadillac Desert, by Marc Reisner, 1993, Penguin Books
   This is the story of the development of the American Southwest, its thirst for water, and how that water has been obtained by government and private-industry manipulation, corruption, and the damming (or damning, if you prefer) of the Colorado River.  Those dams may ultimately do more damage to the Southwest than anything else.

   Hiking Arizona's Geology, by Ivo Lucchitta, 2001, The Mountaineers Books
   If you want to learn something of Arizona's great geology, and be outdoors at the same time, this is the book for you.  Ivo Lucchitta was a Director of the United States Geological Survey in Flagstaff, and has really put some time into this book.   It offers over 40 day hikes around the State, each highlighting geologic features and outstanding scenery.  There is no better way to see the rocks than to go out into them.

   The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation, by Vincent T. Covello and Yuji Yoshimura, 1984, Charles E. Tuttle Company
   Remember when you were young, picked up a stone, and took it home just because there was something about it?  Asian societies have really different ways of looking at rocks, and this edition is the place to start learning some of them.  Those who love rock gardens, big and small, should not do without this book.  Pretty soon you'll be walking around looking for stones to put on your mantle, too.

   The Ages of Gaia, by James Lovelock, 1988, W.W. Norton and Company
   Gaia is the name the ancient Greeks gave to the living Earth, and in this work Dr. Lovelock takes you step by step through the hypothesis that our planet should (indeed, must) be viewed as an integrated system -- a living being in its own right.  You can't separate the rocks from the organism.  I wish this book had been around when I was in college, and made required reading in the Geology program.

   Future Evolution, by Peter Ward, 2001, W.H.Freeman Company
   I had a lot of trouble getting into this book.  Maybe it is the way the author writes -- the style is somewhere between "storybook" and "textbook".  But something about it kept me coming back, and I did finish it.  The far look it presents of our destiny, and the world's future, is disturbing and bleak.  My take is that we (humanity) are like a wildfire sweeping across the landscape, and the result will have fossil hunters of the future scratching their heads, wondering where all the life went.  The author is a geologist, and a paleontologist, and his science is sound.  There is strange, colorful artwork by Alexis Rockman throughout, too.

Back to Top

Astronomy

   Living the Sky -- The Cosmos of the American Indian, by Ray A. Williamson, 1987, University of Oklahoma Press
   If you want to know what kivas, hogans, and medicine wheels were really all about, then get this excellent book.  Any Native American knew far more about the workings of the sky than the average modern American does.  If you have ever desired to become a Sun-Priest, you can start here.

   Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest, Revised Edition, by J. McKim Malville and Claudia Putnam, 1993, Johnson Books: Boulder
   Archaeoastronomy among North America's Native Americans is a fascinating subject, and this book focuses on the Southwest.  Whether at the amazing ruins of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, or the stone circles found in some Phoenix city parks, the principles involved are the same.  This book, also, is a primer on basic astronomy.

Back to Top

Archaeology

   1491, by Charles C. Mann, 2005, Alfred A. Knopf Publishers
   Whatever you and I were taught in school about the Indians of the New World is at the very least seriously incomplete, and at the worst almost totally wrong.  In this engrossing book, subtitled "New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus", science writer Charles Mann takes us through new findings and new perspectives about what the Western Hemisphere was like prior to its "discovery" by Europeans.  Cities larger than any in Europe at the time, mathematics advanced beyond that of contemporaneous "Old World" scholars, and the then most accurate calendar system in the world are but a few of the cultural facets discussed.  And this is not even to mention the amazing artworks and constructions that now lie in ruin.
   My only complaint is that the book almost completely ignores one of the Americas' most civilized prehistoric areas -- that of our own Valley of the Sun.   Why, I don't know.  But it is definitely worth reading nevertheless.

   The First Americans, by J.M. Adovasio, with Jake Page, 2002, Random House Publishers
   All the native peoples of North America came over the land bridge from Siberia, right?  Probably not!  For a great overview of up-to-date North American prehistory, in very readable and entertaining form, get this book by one of America's leading present-day archaeologists.

   In Search of the Old Ones, by David Roberts, 1996, Touchstone Books
   A thought provoking and highly readable look at the archaeology and history of the Four Corners area and the Pueblo cultures.  If you aren't in favor of draining "Lake" Powell, you will be after reading this.  David Roberts and friend Jon Krakauer voyage into the canyonlands.

   Desert Farmers at the River's Edge: the Hohokam and Pueblo Grande, by John P. Andrews and Todd W. Bostwick, 2000, City of Phoenix Parks, Recreation, and Library Department (available from Pueblo Grande Museum)
   This brief but encompassing book should be in every Phoenician's home.   The achievements of the Hohokam people are the basis of Phoenix's very existence, and the city should more proudly boast of its prehistory.  Any other city in the world wanting to capitalize on tourist appeal would love to have what we mostly ignore.

   Man Corn -- Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest, by Christy G. Turner II and Jacqueline A. Turner, 1999, The University of Utah Press
   The name of the book comes from the Aztec word tlacatlaolli, "man corn", a ceremonial meal of human flesh and corn.  Sounds grisly, sure.  But there is much to be explained about the "holes" in the history of the Southwest by the theories presented here in the Turners' very comprehensive and technical study.  Maybe the reason all those old pueblos were so hurriedly abandoned had to do with the fact that their residents were about to become someone else's dinner.

   Landscape of the Spirits -- Hohokam Rock Art at South Mountain Park, by Todd W. Bostwick, 2002, The University of Arizona Press
   I never knew there was so much rock art in South Mountain Park.  Until I read this beautifully illustrated book, I thought there were a few petroglyphs on the mountain, here and there.  But the place is loaded with them!  The South Mountains (as they are correctly called by us modern-day Phoenicians) must have been a real power place, and you can see the effects that they had on the Hohokam in this compilation by Dr. Bostwick, Phoenix's recent City Archaeologist.

Back to Top

  If you have any suggestions for this list, please contact us.

   "Rocks, like louseworts and snail darters and pupfish and 3rd-world black, lesbian, militant poets, have rights, too. Especially the right to exist."
   --- Edward Abbey