Lake Superior Agates

Become a whiz at finding Lake Superior agates!

Keep this tabbed booklet close at hand on your next rock-hunting adventure. Based on Jim Magnuson’s Agate Hunting Made Easy and featuring the professional rock photography of Carol Wood, this guide helps to turn agate hunts into successful ones. You'll learn to pick up on those clues valuable to beginners and experts alike: Learn the common agate features to look for, see what rough agates look like in the field, recognize the different varieties of Lake Superior agates, and identify the agate imposters that might fool you. The easy-to-use format means you’ll quickly find what you need to know. Plus, the quick guide is much easier to use than laminated foldouts, and the tear-resistant pages help to make the book durable in the field.

Rock hounding is more than a hobby for author Jim Magnuson, it’s a serious and rewarding avocation that helps him connect with nature. He has been an avid hunter and student of various gems, minerals, and fossils since his childhood, when he first began to hunt for stones in his native state of Illinois. In addition, Jim enjoys sharing his passion not only through showing and gifting some of his finds but also through writing, another lifelong interest. Throughout Jim’s career as an Information Technology professional, he has developed his technical writing skills while creating new processes that reduce complexity and improve efficiency. These same skills proved to be invaluable as he set out to create a modern-day guide for beginning agate hunters. Jim is also a member of the Minnesota Mineral Club and enjoys attending other rock and mineral clubs as a way to further his learning and branch out into other types of agates, gemstones, and geology.

Carol Wood took up professional photography as a means of satisfying a lifelong passion for creating and sharing things of beauty. She has a keen eye for seeing perspectives in things that on the surface appear to be mundane or quite simple. Given her training and natural instincts for perspective and complementary lighting that enhances visual clarity, Carol is able to produce high-definition photographic images that enhance but don’t distract from the given subjects. These skills are essential in providing a guidebook that novice agate hunters can use as a just-in-time visual reference guide. In addition to Carol’s photographic pursuits, she also enjoys outdoor activities with her friends and family, especially activities that have both a mental and physical component. As a result, she has become an avid rock hound in her own right and has gradually built a collection of beautiful agates that adorn her home in northern Illinois. Carol’s personal interest in the hobby has helped her to walk in the shoes of the beginning rock hound and thereby envision and create a photographic learning experience.