There are many people in this world who get the urge to collect things, an urge that might be called the "collecting bug." This book is about my particular collecting bug, the hobby of collecting of rocks, minerals, fossils, gemstones, and the like. However, much of what I have included could be applied to the collection of other things, both man made and natural; rocks are simply the object of much of my own efforts. There have been many books published on this subject. There are numerous excellent works on what to collect, where to collect, and how to identify what you collect. What I intend to explore is, rather, why - and why not - to collect. It is my hope that the reader will gain an appreciation of avocational rock collecting and why so many of us pursue it.