This book is a fairly short book on Emeralds. Ward gives the reader a great introduction to the world of emeralds without losing the reader in a bunch of scientific jargon. Though the book is very short for its price,it is full of great color pictures and information. The photography in this book alone makes it a must have for emerald lovers. The only complaint that I have about the photograph is that many of the pictures are taken zoomed in so the reader has a tough time determining the actual size of the subjects. Ward touches on the ancient history of these beautiful gems and explores modern day sources of the world's emeralds. Ward also discusses treatments of emeralds before sale, care of emerald jewlery, and there is a particularly interesting section on the making of synthetic emeralds. I would recomend this book to anyone with an interest in emeralds, but I would not recomend it to those looking for a particularly scientific book or a buyer's guide. This little book is packed with information and photographs that won't let you down.

I read Fred Ward's book "Emeralds", a part of his gem series, for an oral report I had to do for school. This book is packed with information on emeralds, from general info, to the cutting process; this book has it all! Not only is Fred Ward a talented author and researcher, but also he takes magnificent photographs. This book has lots of beautiful pictures of emeralds from all over the world. Fred Ward gives you a history of emeralds and their importance with the ancients. And shows and tells you about some of the beautiful jewelry that emeralds are in today, as well in the past. It even has a buying guide that shows what to look for when buying emeralds. I did tons of research for my report, and used a lot of books, but none of them even came close to "Emeralds".

This question goes for the reviewer above. Before I purchase this book, what is the information not included to make this book a true crime read. What is missing, how can I access true information without necessarily having to talk to the actual characters for whom this book is written after? Where is their website? I am intrigued of this info because of your review. Hope to read from you soon.

A true story crime buff

TO PUT IT BLUNTLY THIS BOOK IS GARBAGE.WELL WRITTEN THOUGH IT IS THE AUTHOR HAS A TENDENCY TO PLAY AROUND WITH THE FACTS TO MUCH AN HE HAS A TENDENCY TO FOLLOW POLICE AND COURT INFORMATION TO CLOSELY.HE CLEARLY HAD OR DIDNT WANT ANY ACCESS TO MR.GORE OR MR.WATERFIED (THE ALLEGED CRIMINALS)AND THE BOOK SUFFERS FROM IT.THOUGH FREQUENTLY SUSPENSEFUL THE AUTHORS LACK OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CASE OUTSIDE OF NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS AND INACCURATE POLICE INFORMATION HURTS THE BOOK.BOTH MR.WATERFIELD AND MR.GORE ARE VERY OPEN ABOUT THERE CASE AND CRIMES AND HAVE BOTH DONE NUMEROUS INTERVIEWS AND CONTRIBUTED TO DOZENS OF WEBSITES.THE AUTHORS DECISION NOT TO APPROACH THEM MAKES THIS BOOK JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF TRUE CRIME FILLER.AS A BOOK IT IS WELL WRITTEN AS A FACTUAL ACCOUNT IT IS PURE RUBBISH.TOSS IT INTO THE TRASH ALONGSIDE MOST TRUE CRIME BOOKS