In this compact volume, Vaughan (Univ. of Manchester, UK) deals with modern mineralogy in its widest sense rather than traditional mineralogy that usually focuses on the classification and description of the numerous individual minerals. The seven-chapter work begins with "The Mineral World," including how minerals relate to human history and welfare. Following chapters cover studying minerals by optics, X-ray vision, and other methods, such as synchrotron radiation; minerals and rock magnetism; contributions to plate tectonics and deep high pressures; and nanomineralogy, surficial processes, and mineral cycling. In additional chapters, Vaughn discusses minerals, life processes, and human health; the origin of minerals and mining histories; and Earth system science and the central role minerals play in scientific understanding and appreciation of human existence and survival. All these subjects, vast in their own rights, are masterfully explained and integrated in this concise, illuminating, and highly readable little volume. A select "further reading list" is a valuable addition. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All undergraduate students and general readers. --Thomas L. T. Grose, emeritus, Colorado School of Mines