16. Photo-Atlas of Minerals 2.0
a new step in the small world of mineral computer programs and as valuble a resource as thousands of dollars in booksPublished by: Gem and Mineral Council
of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
Reviewed by: Justin ZzyzxWhen I first became interested in minerals I looked at a new vast field in front of me and knew right away, I was going to need some advice. So, I wrote to one of the curators at the Smithsonian and asked for some direction. I was told one of the most important pieces of information I’ve been given about this subject; buy lots of books.
As I sit here in my office I look around and see that I am surrounded by books and magazines on minerals. But the minerals are somewhere else, tucked away from sunlight and dust. Without a doubt the minerals get much less time from me than my reference library. It is my understanding that Curators of collections at museums often are not allowed to have mineral collections of their own, making them focus on research material. It is no wonder that it took a museum to produce one of the best sources of photographic reference items on the subject. The Photo-Atlas of minerals 2.0 is the new version of the highly popular title of the same name released by the Gem and Mineral Council of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles a few years ago. The original version was well received and had what seemed at the time to be a huge amount of pictures. Now, with the advent of 4.7 Gigabite DVD disks, this program is packed with nearly 16,000 images of minerals from around the world, quite a remarkable amount with only a litle over 4,000 different mineral identified to date. With pictures from favorite photographers such as Jeff Scovil and Wendell Wilson, the user gets a remarkable database of great images that are able to be searched in several ways. Just searching the mineral pictures for the state of Arizona caused my arm to go numb from clicking through the entire gallery. Of course, if you just want to look at a particular region or just by characteristics, such as color, twinning, psuedomorphs or chemistry, the main directory search page will give you these options among many others.
The DVD also features a mineral identification game, slide show options, a glossary of mineral terminology, and a vast database of mineral information. You can even add your own pictures to the program. Each mineral in the database includes a pronunciation audio file to listen to as well, which could have been made just for me. There is quite a bit of great photos and information on the DVD, making it a must have for anyone who is interested in the hobby or science of minerals. The only drawbacks to the DVD is the fact that to get the most out of it you need to install all of the images to your hard drive, nearly 5 GB in size! The installation takes an hour or more, so we recommend getting some popcorn and a movie while the computer receives all the files. The interface is a little clunky seeming at first, but after playing with it for awhile you’ll have no trouble bouncing around the database and pulling up all sorts of photos and information on subjects you are looking for, but also lots of new stuff you might not have seen before.
Did you know that there are Chrysocolla psuedomorphs after Wulfenite from the Reward Mine in Inyo County Califorina? There are plenty of pictures of minerals from the popular locations but also a great deal of pictures of minerals from obscure locations. I thought that it might be biased towards certain locations close to the geographic region of Los Angeles, but not only are the databases of Californian and Southwestern minerals full of great pictures, the same care was given to the rest of the world. People ask me all the time for recommendations of books for people beginning to collect minerals or just starting to get into the study of mineralogy. I always suggest the following; the book Mineralogy by John Sinkankas, the bi-monthly magazine "The Mineralogical Record", the online interactive mineral database website MinDat.org and now I’m happy to recommend, The Photo-Atlas of Minerals 2.0 as my pick for must have informational computer program. You can find them all from your online portal to minerals, The-Vug.com
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