The fourth edition of Introduction to Mineralogy combines material now covered in both traditional and optical mineralogy courses and focuses on describing minerals within their geologic context. Introduction to Mineralogy is suitable as a primary or supporting text for mineralogy, optical mineralogy, petrology, earth materials, and/or economic geology courses. It presents the important content of mineralogy including crystallography, chemical bonding, controls on mineral structure, mineral stability, and crystal growth to provide a foundation that enables students to understand the nature and occurrence of minerals.When a student asks if this book is "worth buying", I assure them that it's loaded with good information and will be an invaluable resource going forward, especially in their other classes. I particularly like to point out to students that over half of the book is effectively an encyclopedia of mineral data they will find useful again and again. -Jade Star, Pomona College It is well-organized and written in a style that should be easily accessible to undergraduate students. The sections on analytical techniques and strategies for study present comfortable guidance to novice researchers in the mineral sciences. It is not intimidating but is a fine reference text for use in other courses in the earth sciences. -Andrew Wulff, Western Kentucky University Well written mineralogy textbook with good discussion of basic crystallography and optical mineralogy. Wealth of information on the optical and physical properties of minerals. Great resource. -David M. Jenkins, Binghamton University Graham Baird is a Professor at the University of Northern Colorado; he succeeded Dr. Nesse in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department upon Dr. Nesse's retirement. Dr. Baird contributed to both the second and third editions of the text and is coming onto the fourth edition as a full co-author. Dr. Baird teaches the introduction to mineralogy course, as well as physical geology, petrology, and geologic field techniques. He is actively doing research in the Front Range of Colorado, the Adirondacks of northern New York, and in the Kebnekaise region of northern Sweden. In addition to working with both undergraduates and master-level students on their research projects, Dr. Baird created a TED-Ed lesson on crystals. William D. Nesse is Professor Emeritus of Geology at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. He is the author of both Introduction to Mineralogy and Optical Mineralogy.