Now when I first began studying stones. my first resources were sheets made by someone in the store. usually they were only a paragraph to maybe a sentence or two. So if you do go to a new age shop, try to ask for one of these sheets. they are quick fact sheets. and are extremely handy.

A good book for identifying stones is Golden books rock and minerials book. it's geared for children and usually most museum shops would carry it or a book similar to it. it's more of a rockhound book than a book for metaphysical purposes. and will give a person a fair idea of what the stones will look like.

Scott Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal,Gem &Metal Magic :this was my first book on studying stonelore. it still has some useful stuff in it. but is slowly becoming outdated. as someone from another board mentioned it divides stones as active and passive. and blue stones in this book are considered passive. however stones like Lapis luzuli are a very active stone. still has some spell lore in it.

LOVE IS IN THE EARTH, A Kaleidoscope of Crystals by MELODY: very useful book. but bear in mind that although she has over 700 different type of stones in there, it is not the be all or end all of stones. as on numerious occasions me and several people could not find certain stones in her book.Also she will not give knowledge on stones that extremely toxic like mercury or uses for new ivory and tortoise shell.

LOVE IS IN THE EARTH KALEIDOSCOPIC PICTORIAL *Supplement A and Supplement Z by MELODY: never got around to getting supplement z although i browsed through it in one or two book shops.
these two books either give additional inormation as well as pictorals of ALL the stones in the book.

the other books by MELODY are also good by recommendation from other known gemlorists.

also MELODY put out a book:
Love Is in the Earth - the Crystal and Mineral Encyclopedia - the Little Fantastic and the Last Testament: The Encyclopedia Describing the Metaphysical and Mineralogical Properties of the Mineral Kingdom which is a combo of all her other books with additional info. but it will be a heavy book at 9.6 pounds and is 976 pages. current price for it is about $67 USD at Amazon.com.

Crystal Awareness by Catherine Bowman:an excellent book for using quartz crystals in healing practices and it is excellent for a rank beginner in stone lore. has the most basic of info with crystal quartzes. if other books will overwhelm you this one won't.

Crystal Enlightenment by Katrina Raphaell , I got this book for free when a new age shop was closing and they gave me some of the store copies. while it is far from MELODY's books it is a little better in stone lore than the Bowman book listed above. written in 1985
it sill has some useful info but it has some info on Lemuria and Atlantis and other New Age mythos. This can be ignored if you want to.

Michael's Gemstone Dictionary by "Michael", JP Van Hulle and Judithan H.David ,Ph.D. a red flag comes up when the knowledge of the book is channeled through a collective group of 1050 entities known as Michael. supposedly some or all of them lived on this plane of existance at one time. again more New Age mythos in how the knowledge was obtained. from my experience the knowledge is useful. I got this book the same way as Crystal Enlightenmet. i would recommend you to get a used copy as it is way way cheaper than a new one.

The Women's Book of Healing by Diane Stein . Ok again another book i got like the other two. it will generate a lot of feminist viewpoints which might be a turnoff for some people. despite the title a man can use it or at least some of the contents. has some useful stuff in it.

Dunwich's Guide to Gemstone Sorcery by Gerina Dunwich. a good to okay book on folklore and on employing stones in spell use. as well as a good number of Wiccan/pagan references. has info on cursed stones, spells and of course uses on healing. will have a brief listing of what goetic demons are useful in helping the caster learn more on gemstones.

Healing Crystals and Gemstones: From Amethyst to Zircon by Dr.Flora Peschek-Bohmer and Gisela Schreiber and is translated by Sibylle Dausien. This is an excellent book on a lot of German stonelore techniques. while it doesn't have the vast amount of stones that MELODY's books have, it does have another way to use stones in healing.

Other books that were recommended to me seem ok are

Crystal Power Crystal Healing - Gienger

Mystical Lore of Precious Stones - Kunz

The Curious Lore of Presious Stones - Kunz

Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals - National Audubon Society

Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals - National Audubon Society,

Handbook Of Rocks Minerals & Gemstones by Walter Schumann

Falling Stars - Reynolds

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites

Amber Window to the Past - Grimaldi

Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets... by E.C. Krupp

Caves: Exploring Hidden Realms" by Michael Ray Taylor, Ronal C. Kerbo. from what i heard excellent photography

Stone Power by Dorothee Mella

Gemstones published by Sterling publishing Co

Judy Hall's Crystal Bible

Corrine Kenner's Crystals for Beginners

Jennie Harding's Guide to Crystals

Gem and Mineral Lore: Remedies, Magick and Folklore by Rev. Paul V. Beyerl

some of these books you can get at Amazon.com