[Rockhounds] Learning Curve for Geology - was MR Texas Supplement

Alan Goldstein deepskyspy at insightbb.com
Thu Feb 5 19:02:49 PST 2009 

Sandra & others,

I enjoy specimens with an interesting history. My background is a bit 
different because I use to curate the second oldest mineral collection in 
the United States - the Gerard Troost collection. It was working that 
collection and its catalog that got me motivated to catalog both my fossil 
and mineral collections. Troost had over 12,000 mineral specimens entered in 
his catalog. I've still got a while to reach that number, though by 
combining my fossil and mineral collections that number is likely to be 
crossed in the next 10 years! If you have the May-June 1984 MR issue, look 
for the article I wrote. (I could write a totally new article from what I've 
learned in the interim!)

Even with a degree in geology, my DEPTH of knowledge has been built by 
collecting specimens and doing research to learn more about them. Another 
way I learn about a subject by writing. My primary writing outlet was 
Mineral News, although in the past five years I have not made any 
interesting discoveries so that has been reduced. I've had three articles in 
the Mineralogical Record with two on the drawing board - partially written. 
I wrote the Kentucky Mineral Locality Index published last year in Rocks and 
Minerals and am finishing up one of fluorite replaced fossils - motivated by 
Rob Cook's article in the current issue. This same motivation keeps me 
posting images on mindat.

Communicating with others - either through groups like this or the 
traditional one-on-one letter can really build up one's knowledge base. The 
old saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know" is a creed to live by 
in order to learn about our natural world. I've got thick binders with 
correspondence from both professional and amateur paleontologists, 
mineralogists, etc. over the past 30 years.

While not having the budget to do much 'silver pick' collecting, my 
collection has become diversified by traded with hundreds of people over the 
years and - like you, like everyone on this list - am proud of it because it 
is a reflection of my interests. I finally got to put it to its ultimate use 
last year by creating an exhibit at the park museum where I work. The 
exhibit was on minerals and how they are used in today's society. During its 
four month run, there were a lot of people who drooled over the crystals and 
colorful specimens (organized by their dominant element) and many were 
amazed that these minerals get pulverized to make things we use daily and 
take for granted.

The concept of having a group of collectors that meet at each other's homes 
and share peeks at their respective collections and discuss subjects of 
mutual interest is a good one. I'd like to see something like that start up 
in my own home town. My only problem is that my wife would insist that I 
clean up the basement before inviting people over. That is a task that I 
wouldn't look forward to under most circumstances!

Alan G.
P.S. I got my first Red River Floodway selenite last year. My first big 
selenite (~30 cm xl from Utah) was obtained in 1986. It was chosen because 
it looked exactly like a selenite Troost obtained from Germany in the 
1830's.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandra B. Gee" <mp44sturm-rocks at yahoo.com>
To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
<rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 10:43 PM
Subject: [SUSPECTED SPAM] Re: [Rockhounds] MR Texas Supplement


> Alan,
>
> Thank you for your critique and kind comments.
>
> My learning curve in this hobby is probably 25 years behind lots of folks 
> here on the forum as my college and graduate level studies have been in 
> the life sciences (biochemistry and medicine).  As such, I see that in 
> this hobby, my ignorance is my expertise.  So, I become expert at knowing 
> what to ask and what to do in order to dispel my ignorance.
>
> Collecting minerals have certainly been a jump off point for me to read 
> and learn different things.  I especially remember seeing the Zn+ rich 
> malachite on an auction site and being so amazed at this form of malachite 
> that I went on a Google search and ended up pulling up and reading the old 
> article from Rocks & Minerals magazine from Sept 1998.
>
> For the gypsum ball, I had a chance to read up on the large flood that 
> swamped Winnipeg in 1950 which resulted in the evacuation of 100,000 
> people and how it was the reason for the building of the Red River 
> Floodway.  This was a springboard to looking up articles about the 
> occurence of these gypsum balls.
>
> A big concept in medicine is that students had to do hundreds of physical 
> exams on patients without any physical abnormalities with the idea that 
> when you get accustomed to what's normal, then the out of the ordinary 
> (like the enlarged liver or the hard border of a gastric cancer) sticks 
> out like a sore thumb.   Carrying this idea into mineral collecting, it 
> was only seeing many pictures and actual specimens of malachite and gypsum 
> for me to learn what was usual for malachite and gypsum so that I could 
> learn to spot and recognize the unusual.  And yeah, "rock porn" (love the 
> term!) did play a part in helping me learn these "usual" things.
>
> Overall, this is an enjoyable list to be a part of.
>
> Sandra Gee.
>
>
>
> --- On Wed, 2/4/09, Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Alan Goldstein <deepskyspy at insightbb.com>
>> Subject: [Rockhounds] MR Texas Supplement
>> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" 
>> <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
>> Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 8:42 PM
>> The Mineralogical Record is a good magazine, though there
>> are issues that
>> are occasionally boring. The same could be said for any
>> magazine. Sometimes
>> they publish things that stray from the mission of
>> educating their audience.
>> That was the point of my discussion. (Insulting
>> participants was not.)
>>
>> Sandra, you have some very nice specimens - in fact they
>> are among the most
>> interesting of any of those selected for the supplement! I
>> particularly like
>> the cavernous galena, Zn-rich malachite and the ex-Ferguson
>> collection
>> fluorite. I have an ex-Ferguson specimen in my collection
>> as well (calcite).
>>
>> I think a letter to the editor is in order because readers
>> deserve more from
>> the magazine management than random specimen photo albums -
>> even free ones!
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Darryl Powell"
>> <dpowell13 at rochester.rr.com>
>> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock
>> and gem collectors"
>> <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 4:01 PM
>> Subject: [Rockhounds] Re: MR Texas Supplement
>>
>>
>> > Dear List,
>> >    Obviously there are a lot of different observations
>> and opinions about
>> > the Texas Collector issue.  I guess there will always
>> be differences of
>> > opinion as to the best role of MR as a publication.
>> On the whole, I have
>> > benefited from the range of information the magazine
>> provides, even if it
>> > doesn't always "hit" my interests or
>> collecting philosophy and I continue
>> > to look forward to receiving the new issues.
>> >    How's this for yet another perspective:
>> considering how many
>> > collection issues have been published by MR, is it
>> possible that an
>> > unstated direction of the magazine is to publish a
>> number of collection
>> > catalogs, as an historical record of what's out
>> there in the mineral
>> > collecting world right now and where it is?  For
>> example, the pink
>> > Peruvian fluorite octahedra in the Spann collection at
>> one time belonged
>> > to Marty Zinn.  Personally I always found it
>> interesting to trace the
>> > heritage of old specimens that at one time belonged to
>> this count then
>> > that mineralogist then that museum then that private
>> collector, and so on.
>> > I suppose there's some value, even if minimal, to
>> have such records
>> > available for future generations.
>> >    Lastly I must confess that I do like mineralogical
>> eye candy and enjoy
>> > the pretty pictures.  Not much brain energy needed
>> which is fine at the
>> > end of a long and busy day.
>> >
>> > Just some random thoughts.  Best wishes to you all.
>> > Darryl Powell
>> > Manchester, NY
>> > -- 
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
>> > Subscription Services:
>> > http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
>> > List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
>> > http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
>> Subscription Services:
>> http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
>> List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
>> http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
> Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
> Subscription Services:
> http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
> List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
> http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html

More information about the Rockhounds mailing list