A unique resource for architects, interior designers, builders, and their clients, Natural Stone: A Guide to Selection gives a complete picture of the factors that influence the choice of dimension stone in interior and exterior architecture. It is an indispensable guide to successfully finding your way around the complex world of marble, granite, quartzite, and other stones. Aimed at bridging the gap between designers not necessarily expert in the stone industry and stone producers/suppliers, this book tells you what you need to know about stone: terminology, classification, technical and commercial characteristics, aesthetic variations and defects, producer countries, availability, and applications. Over 350 representative stone samples, grouped by color and type, chosen from the most important commercial varieties on the international market, are shown in high-quality color photographs. For the convenience of designers and specifiers, a CD-ROM packaged with the book contains screen-resolution TIFF images of all the samples for both Mac and Windows platforms.