The Encyclopedia of Crystals and Healing Stones: The Definitive Guide to Over 300 Healing Crystals [Hardcover]

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE WORKS ON THE HEALING PROPERTIES OF STONES AND CRYSTALS THEN LOOK NO FURTHER. EACH CRYSTAL IS LISTED BY COLOUR AND OFFERS A BREAKDOWN OF CHEMICAL MAKEUP, WORLD DISTRIBUTION, HARDNESS AND AFILIATED ZODIAC SIGN. THE MAIN TEXT OFFERS AN INSIGHT INTO HOW TO CHARGE CRYSTALS AND WHAT PROPERTIES AND HEALING QUALITIES EACH STONE CAN OFFER. MY FAMILY LIKED THE BOOK SO MUCH, I'VE ORDERED MORE COPIES FOR THEM. EXCELLENT BOOK.

This is my first crystal book. And I am pretty new to crystals too. So I was very excited to get this book with all the good comments I have read about it.

At first the book is definately good. As the colour coordination of crystals helps me find names for my unknown common crystals. However soon I realised it doesn't give enough information on recognising crystals. It needs to give tips eg. difference between sodalite and lapis luzuli someone once said is that lapis lazuli has gold specs in it.

There are beautiful quality and large photos. These are very useful and beautiful. However there should be more. Atleast one rough and one tumblestone picture of each as they look completely different when they have been processed. Maybe even more than one of each as some stones vary so much. That way we can guess better at which one it could be.

Secondly the healing advice is very good, however if there was a glossary at the back of illnesses and which crystals are good for healing them, this would have been even more useful.

Although there is a paragraph of information on each crystal.I find that researching on ebay and google I find alot more information. For example: Black Tourmaline is also called Schorl and it is one of the best protections stones there are. And Erongo Nambia South Africa has a mine that has the best specimins in the world. (None of this is mentioned in the book).

Nor does it mention how to recognise a quality stone from a lower stone. I still am not sure about this; I have been told inclusions make the energy of the stones more powerful, however the more clarity a stone has the more it is rated as quality by ebayers. I would have liked to have a section with all crystals explaining this.

Extra sections that would be nice is more ways to clean crystals, tips on how to use wands and points, does size/clarity/inclusions/occlusions matter?, crystal grids and which crystals compliment each other.

Nevertheless this book is still nice to have. I'm glad I bought it. I like reading it and looking at the pictures and it is definatley my first point of reference whenever I find a crystal.

I hope this gives and idea of what is and is not in the book.

But IF ANYONE CAN RECOMMEND OTHER BOOKS THAT GIVE THE INFORMATION THAT IS LACKING IN THIS BOOK I WOULD BE GLAD TO FIND OUT. Please leave a comment with your recommendation. Thanks.

This is a must have reference book to go with the Crystal Bible and the New crystals book both by Judy Hall. I use it often.