Beach Stones

My grandson wanted a publication that would help him identify the various pebbles and stones found on a beach and elsewhere. As he is only seven years old, it had to be something fairly simple, though he is no stranger to long words.I trolled through all the options available on Amazon, and plumped for this one, partly because the description seemed to imply that there would be an explanation of the origins of the stones and hence their composition.There is no doubt that the photography of the stones is impeccable, and the coloured plates of a very high standard. However, when it came to describing the stones themselves, this was mainly restricted to a note of where they had been found. Very little effort had been made to distinguish quartz from flint, granite from sandstone. My grandson was left looking at some pretty pictures of beach stones found mostly in North America, but which looked very like the ones to be found on most British stony beach - and still not knowing what type of stone they were.I found rating this book difficult. The photographs, as I said, are excellent, and there are plenty of them, so there is no denying the book lives up to its title. If the description had simply said 'Photographs of beach stones, and where they were found' then it would have scored 5 stars. But to me, the description promised more, and was misleading.If what you are after is some stunning photography, you won't be disappointed. I expected more, and was.

I bought this, as one of a number of titles, for a bright 10 year old who loves to scour beaches and rock pools and identify the things she finds.It was not a lot of help to her. I admit that I should have been more careful when ordering as I missed the fact that it wasn't just about British & European beach stones but beach stones from all over the world. This means, as it's only a small book, that all references are very superficial.The photographs are lovely and it provoked an interest in the stones bit it answered very few of the questions that were asked as a result of seeing the pictures.I'm sure there are better books available but I wouldn't dismiss this completely, it's a reasonable price and a good, but very basic, introduction.

Simple and beautiful photos of pebbles. Not an identifier but rather a musing on the beauty of a part of the natural world that many overlook.

Beautifully presented book with lovely photographs and the only disappointment was that I'd have liked a slightly more informative text on the stones. I think i'll have to look for a book on geology so I can catagorise my own a bit better.

A great hardback book in very good condition, has as it shows a guide with each page showing photo images of more than two hundred stones from around the world in this handy small book. I would recommend buying this book.