What Even IS This Website?

The idea for this website came from a book. That book is the middle grade novel Geo’s Fortune, and it was written by me, the author, Amy B. Mucha. Geo’s Fortune is filled with rocks and magic, and writing it made me not only remember how much I loved rocks as a kid, it made me fall in love all over again.

In the book, as in real life, you’ll meet two different kinds of rock lovers. There are those who love rocks from a scientific point of view (the rockhounds, like Lana), and those who love rocks first and foremost for their magical potential (the crystal lovers, like Feather).

These two groups don’t always see eye to eye, and writing Geo’s Fortune made me long for a space that could bring them together. This place would need tons of factual, accurate scientific information AND have plenty of magic, where fans of my book could come get a free Rock Reading of their own. I wanted this place to appeal as much to folks brand new to the rock world, as to those with a lifelong passion.

No such space existed, so I decided to make it myself. And thus was born The Rock Readers! I joined forces with a genuine, lifelong, really-knows-his-stuff rockhound, and I’m proud to say that, working together, we met these goals and then some.

Then, because in addition to science and magic I also love art and humans, I expanded my mission statement to include those two things as well. Therefore, here at The Rock Readers:

• We celebrate science!
• We celebrate magic!
• We celebrate art!
• AND we have a By humans, for humans: 100% AI-Free Guarantee.

That last one was added because I absolutely do NOT celebrate artificial intelligence. I’m sure it’s not all bad, there’s a place for it, blah blah blah. But the fact that AI actively steals from human artists and writers, threatening their livelihoods while filling the Web with an endless sludge of hideous “art” and bland writing? And that it does this while spewing misinformation, false “facts,” and absolute nonsense in a voice of total authority and confidence? BLECH.

This is why I pledge that everything on the Rock Readers was created by real artists, real writers, real rockhounds, and real developers and designers, all of whom were paid for their work.

It’s my hope that I’ve succeeded in making something fun and wholesome that can be enjoyed by science-leaning rockhounds and magic-leaning crystal lovers in equal measure, all while supporting the art community and taking a stand against AI.

Okay, But Why Rocks?

Short answer: Rocks are cool!

Long answer: Okay, so I mean REALLY long. Like 13.8 billion years long, so buckle in.

Like many good stories, this one starts with a bang, the Big Bang, to be precise.

But what IS the Big Bang? Where did it come from? Why did it happen? No one knows! Seriously, we just can’t explain it. All we know for sure is that first there was nothing, then, like magic, there was something.

Nothing → something. BOOM.

Anyway, that Big kept Banging for the next few hundred thousand years, give or take, until the energy expanded outward enough that it began to cool off at the edges. And that’s when the next interesting thing happened. The cooling energy began to clump, and eventually it clumped enough to form something completely new and fantastical: matter.

At first it was just teensy-tiny little bits of matter, and for some reason these teensy-tiny little bits of matter seemed to be inexplicably drawn towards each other. Why? Again, we’re not completely sure! (Scientists are pretty solid on the how—you’ll hear words and phrases like gravity and strong force to explain it—but, for real, no one knows exactly why. Which, if you ask me, means that’s basically magic.)

These teensy-tiny little bits of matter liked hanging out together so much, soon they started to click together like teensy-tinsy little puzzle pieces. But when they clicked, it did not make a teensy-tiny reaction. Not only did they make entirely new, heavier kinds of matter, but they created some seriously major BOOMs.

Nuclear booms, to be precise. We call it nuclear fusion.

Add enough of those nuclear booms together, and that’s how we got our first stars.

But the universe was far from finished because those first stars were just babies, and as we all know, babies get older. As a star gets older, more fusion happens, creating even heavier elements. That makes the star heavier, too, until eventually it gets so old and so heavy, that poor old star collapses in on itself.

Yup, it dies.

The thing about a star is that it doesn’t die quietly. To say stars die with a bang would be a massively ridiculous understatement. When the very biggest die, they collapse together so hard it creates the biggest known boom in the entire universe: a supernova. And that (well, mostly that) is what created a whole bunch of new, very cool elements like silver, platinum, and gold.

And, also, lots of very cool rocks.

And, eventually, us.

No stars = no rocks = no Earth = no us. Which means, if you like, you can start thinking of your family history this way:

The big bang → energy → atoms → fusion → stars → rocks → Earth → us

So, why rocks? Because we’re family. Since it was the Earth who made us*, you could even say we’re the children of rocks. Sometimes I like to think rocks see us as their magical, freaky little children who walk around on them, pick them up, name them, study them, collect them, and make stuff with them. And when you think of it that way, why wouldn’t rocks take an interest in us?

I’ve long suspected they do. I suspect they’ve been sending us messages since forever, and that most of us just don’t know how to hear them. But that means some of us do. And it means you can too.

And, as you’ll see in the cards, they have a lot to say.

*We don’t know how she made us, but she did. We know, because, well, here we are. Incidentally, other things science can’t explain include dark matter, dark energy, consciousness, why we dream, why we yawn, exactly how a cat purrs, how a butterfly could possibly know how to fly thousands of miles back to a place they’ve never been, and so, so, SO much more.

Is This Website Safe for Kids?

This website was designed for a general audience, meaning that it’s meant to be enjoyed by people of all ages. That said, it was created by a children’s book author with a commitment to providing factual information and wholesome advice to all, so there shouldn’t be anything upsetting or inappropriate for the twelve and under set… with several important caveats:

Is This Whole Site Really Free?

Yes! This website is not a financial endeavor, it’s a passion project. Not only is it 100% free to use and explore, but we’re dead set against ever having any annoying ads or pop-ups, and we’ll never require registration or sign-ins, either. This is, and will remain, free, easy to use, and open to all.

That said, if you wish to support the work being done here, there’s definitely something you can do! For one thing, spread the word. It does no good for this site to exist if no one ever finds it.

Also, you can purchase a copy of Geo’s Fortune, the novel that inspired this site. If you don’t have money for a book, no problem at all! In that case you can check to see if it’s at your local public library, and if it isn’t, request it. That helps authors just as much as buying the book yourself.

If you’re here because you already read Geo’s Fortune, thank you!! I love when readers find their way to this site. In that case, the very nicest thing you could do is leave it a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble. Reviews mean everything to authors!

If you do any of the above, THANK YOU!!

Is This Site Finished, or Will More Be Added?

I’m not sure this website will ever be truly finished. From rocks to readings to quizzes and more, we’ve got a long list of things we plan to add, so be sure to check back often and see what’s new!

And if there’s something YOU would like to see added, let us know!

Who Designed This Website?

Some rendered assets were provided by Poly By Google. Most were created by Quaternius.

Last but not least, the landing page art was created by the ridiculously talented JC Molanda of JC Arte. Read more about him on our Meet the Artists page!

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What Resources & References Were Used in Researching the Rocks on This Site?

References used in the science sections of this site have all been noted and linked within the text itself and on the Learn More page. For the magic section, the following books and websites were the go-to sources used to discern the meanings and messages of each rock:

Websites

• Geology.com
• Minerals.net
• Mindat.org
• Mineralogy4Kids
• Wikipedia

Books

• Rocks and Minerals: A Gem of a Book by Simon Basher and Dan Green
• Rock and Gem: The Definitive Guide to Rocks, Minerals, Gemstones, and Fossils by Ronald Bonewitz
• My Book of Rocks and Minerals: Things to Find, Collect, and Treasure by Devin Dennie
• Rocks and Minerals by DK (Smithsonian)
• Scholastic Discover More: Rocks and Minerals by Dan Green