Gift Ideas for Geologists

I was reading news stories on my phone using the USA Today app, and because of the holiday season, there are many articles about gift ideas for particular groups of people. This had me thinking about what kind of gifts a geologist would enjoy. Here are five gifts that can be given to a geologist for the holiday season:

1. Rock, minerals, and fossils - This item kind of seems like a no-brainer because what geologist would not like to add to their rock, mineral, and fossil collection. However, this might not be as easy as you think. For someone who is just beginning their collections, you can walk into a rock store and find plenty of items of interest. These items include minerals such as quartz, pyrite, calcite and fossils such as clam shells, trilobites, and orthoceras shells. For the more seasoned geologist, they likely already have all those specimens that they personally collected on their various field trips and instead might be looking for the rarer specimens. The rarer minerals and fossils likely won't be found at your closest mall, but instead at dedicated rock and mineral shops. The problem with these specimens is they can be rather pricey.

2. New field equipment - Most geologists do some kind of field work, so a good gift idea is items that will enhance their field experience. Ideas can include a rock hammer, hand lens of different magnifications, GPS unit, new hiking boots, new tent, walking sticks, or a new camera.

3. A geologic trip - Depending on where you live, a geologic trip can be either relatively inexpensive or extremely expensive and time-consuming. I think any geologist would love a trip to go hiking in a National Park, National Forest, or State Park. One can also think about taking a big trip to a different country like Iceland, Chile, Argentina, China, or New Zealand.

4. Books or article subscriptions - Ideas for books can include fiction books such as Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, non-fiction such as The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester, or for the research-intensive person,  subscriptions to scientific journals.

5. If all else fails, buy some beer, because all geologists love beer!