Collection Encyclopedia of Odd Stones for Beginners - Full Color Edition

Author: Liu Daorong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Strange stones are epitomes of the vast world. Each stone represents a scene, an object, a microcosm, and a world. They are a vast celestial book, recording the vicissitudes of natural history and the ups and downs of social history. From them, one can appreciate the mysteries of nature and discern the essence of human society. Strange stones are also ordinary rocks. Due to all natural events, physical and chemical processes on Earth—including volcanic activity, earthquakes, fault movements, meteorite showers, as well as surface activities like rivers, wind and sand, snow and ice, dripping water, and tidal waves—common rocks can be transformed into strange stones. There are numerous types of strange stones, with historical records mentioning hundreds of varieties, while newly discovered types now exceed a thousand. At first glance, strange stones may seem ordinary, yet they are infinitely fascinating. The more one studies them, the more mysterious they become. As a scientist engaged in geology for over 30 years, I dare not claim to fully understand strange stones. They encompass a wide range of fields, including astronomy, geography, and paleontology. Strange stones are the heavens and the earth, the world itself. Understanding strange stones is understanding the natural world. Appreciating and collecting them is a profoundly meaningful and wonderful endeavor! Today, many people are fond of strange stones and yearn to learn more about them. However, faced with such a vast array of strange stones, they often wonder how to appreciate, identify, and collect them. While numerous books on strange stones have been published in the past, most focus on images, with fewer works offering comprehensive, scientific, and engaging introductions to them. A Beginner's Encyclopedia of Strange Stone Collecting fills these gaps, providing newcomers to the hobby with foundational knowledge to understand, recognize, and eventually learn how to collect strange stones. This book offers an in-depth yet accessible introduction to the history, formation, classification, and identification of strange stones. It provides detailed explanations of easily confused stone types and offers suggestions on how to appreciate them. It is my hope that this book will be of assistance to all enthusiasts of strange stones.