Gemstone and Mineral Nonfiction

Nonfiction books about individual gems, crystals, and minerals, also a few books about multiple minerals that I would recommend.

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created by Storyteller

last updated December, 2025

16 books

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Paraiba The legacy of a color

Kevin Ferreira

The World of Opals

Allan W. Eckert

Agates: Treasures of the Earth (Natural History Museum)

Roger Pabian

A Lapidary of Sacred Stones: Their Magical and Medicinal Powers Based on the Earliest Sources

Claude Lecouteux

Lapis Lazuli

Sarah Searight

The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)

Ellen Meloy

Amber: From Antiquity to Eternity

Rachel King

Diamond: The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair

Matthew Hart

The Stone of Heaven: Unearthing the Secret History of Imperial Green Jade

Cathy Scott-Clark

Myth and Geology - Special Publication no 273 (Geological Society Special Publication)

L. Piccardi and W. B. Masse

Diamonds: An Early History of the King of Gems

Jack Ogden

Fire and Blood: Rubies in Myth, Magic, and History

Diane Morgan

From Satan's Crown to the Holy Grail: Emeralds in Myth, Magic, and History

Diane Morgan

Pyrite: A Natural History of Fool's Gold

David Rickard

Crystal Healing: The Science and Psychology Behind What Works, What Doesn't, and Why

Dan R. Lynch

Jewels: A Secret History

Victoria Finlay

Comments

Tango

New interest unlocked 😮. Do you recommend anything as a good intro to minerals?

StorytellerOP

I think Jewels is a lovely first read on this topic. Crystal Healing is definitely cynical about the healing part (written by a psychologist and the geologist) - which I enjoyed - but it does have a lot of interesting info on the most common types of minerals and how they are being marketed.