Iowa Gems and Minerals in Your Pocket, by Paul Garvin and Anthony Plaut, is now available from the Bur Oak Guide series of the University of Iowa Press.

The laminated guide is available at bookstores or from the UI Press, 800-621-2736 or www.uiowapress.org.

Iowa’s long record of mining lead, coal, gypsum, and limestone contains a rich history; the 47 mineral specimens in Iowa Gems and Minerals in Your Pocket make up a fascinating illustrated guide to that history.

From the spiky teeth of a geode containing sparkling quartz crystals, the rich browns and golds of smoky quartz and goethite needles on calcite, and the coral-like branches of plumose barite, to the abstract reds and whites of polished agate cabochons, world-class mineral crystals are harvested from the rocks of the Hawkeye State.

Garvin is a professor of geology at Cornell College, where Plaut is a professor of art.