The book of the largest Soviet mineralogist and well-known popularizer of scientific knowledge, academician Alexander Evgenievich Fersman (1882-1945), tells in an entertaining way about the life of stone on Earth: what minerals are, their origin, history, features, "curiosities in the world of stone," how stone serves man, and much more. The final chapter provides practical advice to the amateur mineralogist on how to collect and identify minerals.