Learn about diamonds and gems from the source: GIA, the Gemological Institute of America.  GIA developed the diamond grading system we use and has educated jewelers and consumers for the last fifty years.    "The Difference Between Wondering and Knowing" is the theme of their latest campaign.  Their video "How to Choose a Diamond" is part of this educational push.  It's on their website; check it out. 

There is also an interactive tutorial on www.GIA.edu called "How to Buy a Gemstone." It's informative, fun and gemologically correct.  Click on and aim straight for the basics you'll need to understand and take charge of what can easily be a confusing and stressful purchase.   

I strongly recommend these clever, colorful visual tools to those on the other side of the counter who sell diamonds and gems.

Excellent books on gemology include Eyewitness Books' Crystal and Gem, part of a series available in the children's section at any Barnes and Noble. Its pictures are dazzling.  Crystal and Gem is marketed as a book for kids, and, like many children's books, it emphasizes graphics - not text.  Yet it accurately covers concepts such as crystallography, atomic structure, gem identification, synthetic gemstones, and optical properties.  Cally Hall's Identifying Gems and Precious Stones is similar.  Both can help when choosing a colored gemstone.    

Understanding Jewellery by David Bennett and Daniela Mascetti has been my bible for antique jewelry since recommended to me by GIA's Elise Misiorowski many years ago. A bonus, the book includes photomicrographs of inclusions (from Dr. Edward Gubelin's Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones) which aid in separating natural gems from synthetics.  Jewelry: 7000 Years, edited by Hugh Tait also has spectacular pictures of ancient jewelry which easily could inspire the jewelry designer in you.

Good pictures smooth the road to understanding the science of gems as well as feeding an appreciation of jewelry as art. 

Although we would prefer to have it on our finger than to read about it, reading helps us figure out just what is on our finger and why it is so valuable!