This book is a collection of ISRM suggested methods for testing or measuring properties of
rocks and rock masses both in the laboratory and in situ as well as for monitoring the
performance of rock engineering structures. The first collection (Yellow Book) has been
published in 1981. In order to provide access to all the Suggested Methods in one volume the
ISRM Blue Book was published in 2007 (by the ISRM via the Turkish National Group) and contains
the complete set of Suggested Methods from 1974 to 2006 inclusive. The papers in this most
recent volume have been published during the last seven years in international journals mainly
in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering. They offer guidance for rock characterization
procedures and laboratory and field testing and monitoring in rock engineering. These methods
provide a definitive procedure for the identification measurement and evaluation of one or
more qualities characteristics or properties of rocks or rock systems that produces a test
result.
