Fortunes in Minerals

Anyone who has followed my reviews for a year or more will probably know that I would read a shopping list if Ion Idriess had written it, and that it would probably get 4 or 5 stars, depending on the level of detail.

This is Idriess's third of four mining & prospecting books. These books are Prospecting for Gold, 1931; Cyaniding for Gold, 1939; Fortunes in Minerals, 1941 and Opals and Sapphires, 1967. These were commissioned by the Australian Government during the depression years to try and ‘open up' outback Australia and generate some economic advancement through minerals. These are practically text books, but where Idriess is able to add value over and above some other more academic author is that he is able to take complex things and break them down using simple words and terminology, avoiding academic jargon and largely avoiding the actual science and just explaining outcomes.

What is it about? What does it tell you? Basically it explains how to go out into the outback with your prospecting kit, seek out suitable geological ground, interpret that ground in the context of geology and recognise where to expect what minerals will occur in these locations. It also outlines the field tests for each mineral.

Where this book looks to provide simplicity is that Idriess looks to layer the information in subsequent chapters, using repetition of the key ideas.

This makes this book quite readable. Idriess encourages the readers own experimentation, trialing and testing, making this book more engaging than you might expect from its description.

What makes my edition incredibly hard to read is that it is a facsimile edition from Isha Books, and it is a very poor copy of old typed text. The boldness and legibility of each page varies from one to another, but none are what you would call clearly legible. I bought this only because a) it was very cheap, and b) these are rare to find, and seldom come up for sale. This means I can read only a few pages or a chapter at a time, before I go cross-eyed and find the book is only an inch from my nose.

For the casual reader, this is not a book to read from cover to cover, but I was surprised that the content is genuinely interesting to read. I can't say I took much of it on board, but then when casually reading any textbook do you really take any detail on board? If I had made notes and actually studied I am sure this would be incredibly helpful.

A textbook 5 stars.