Photograph by blickwinkel/Alamy Rocks themselves are made of clusters ... but with a different arrangement—explaining why diamond is the hardest mineral and graphite (used in pencil lead ...

This story centers on a rare mineral encased in a diamond, a substance that could never survive on the planet's surface without its protective casing. In the 1980s, miners in Botswana's Orapa mine ...

Rocks and Minerals Magazine "...provide[s] a well-illustrated overview....the book succeeds eminently....Teachers of mineralogy may find the book helpful to recommend to students as an example of the ...