"The Complete Encyclopedia of Minerals" by Petr Korbel & Milan Novak is a comprehensive work of art that is filled with so many rocks, you can't read it all in one night (or you might fall asleep attempting to do so!) Comprising over 600 mineral species on 296 action packed pages that are arranged according to the mineralogical system, it's a great book for flipping open a random page for your "mineral of the day" fix. The summaries are not just full of specifications, but also contain interesting information on where the main occurences are, applications and some hybrid information.

Mineral photographs in this book are splendid and each mineral is rated from common to very rare on a bulleted scale. The authors have put years of work into their tome. I've enjoyed looking at this book from time to time and recommend it for a nice rockhound gift.