The definitive guide to rocks and minerals, completely updated for the fifth edition, includes 385 color photographs showing rocks, minerals, and geologic formations. Hundreds of minerals are described, with details such as geographic formations. Hundreds of minerals are described, with details such as geographic distribution, physical properties, chemical composition, and crystalline structures.

Frederick H. Pough (1907-2006) was a mineralogist and museum curator who wrote a guide to collecting gems and minerals that became essential for geologists. He wrote A Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals while serving as a curator of physical geology and mineralogy at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.