Also long lists of information get rather boring. However, if a mineral has an interesting property, such as lead being heavy, or malachite being botryoidal, or calcite's cleavage planes, then I say so, and describe what it means. There's a glossary giving links to these descriptions. I have included the formula of each mineral, as this describes what the mineral is made of. Since this may not be familiar to all, I have included a description of the elements .
Many minerals have names with interesting histories.
Some, like cinnabar, have very old names, and no-one knows what the name originally meant. Sometimes the name gives the history of the mineral, such as the name copper, which comes from Cyprus, where copper was found in ancient times. So I have given the derivation of each mineral's name. One use of soft colourful minerals throughout history, and back to the dawn of mankind, has been to make paint. There is a page which shows various pigment minerals powdered, and gives a brief history of them.