Gem Trails of Texas

Rating:
Summary: sounds great at first
Review: I was so excited when I got this book. The excitement has now faded. All the maps say "not to scale"... this was an understatement. The measurements written were often off by 30-70%. Areas that have been state parks for decades are not marked properly. At least one site mentioned was an illegal collecting site because it was in a state park and clearly marked. I looked at a real map and all 3 miles were in the state park... his map said 11 miles and much was not in the park.
Plain and simple... if you are going to publish a book with maps, some going down to small roads, get the real map and make your notes on that. many times his maps contradict a real map. I will never make a special trip for any thing in this book.
If you are going to one of these places anyway, for something other than rockhounding, then you may want to check these sites out... but you will waste your time if you plan a trip around it.
Some of the information may be useful... but I give it one star in recognition of the 4 days of my time it wasted. Due to the lack of accuracy this book is shame to the geologist community and these issues must be fixed. Each site must be visited and marked with GPS and on a real map before they republish this.
IF you find it used, on sale, real cheap, and don't have any expectations... then and only then this is an interesting book.