Feldspar Minerals

Book excerpt: Remarks by JVS. Volumes 1 and 2 of Feldspar Minerals were published in 1974, but Volume 3 was not completed because I was forced to devote 3 years to the resolution of unforeseen problems in the construction of an ion probe. By 1977, the incomplete draft for Volume 3 had become obsolete because of the enormous advances in knowledge of feldspars, particularly those in lunar rocks and meteorites, and in both deep-seated and ancient terrestrial rocks. Furthermore, it soon became obvious that a completely new version of Feldspar Minerals was needed because of the important new results on the physical and chemical properties. I had kept up with the interesting but tedious chore of weekly reading of the incoming literature and maintenance of the files. By 1980, the intense day-to day pressure had gone from my research programs on lunar rocks and on the development of the ion microprobe as a quantitative geochemical instrument, and I began preparation of a second edition of Feldspar Minerals.