| Subcategories |
 |
Outdoors & Nature |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Jewels: A Secret History
written by Victoria Finlay
Studio : Random House Trade Paperbacks
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date : 2007-08-14
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Released : 2007-08-14
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780345466952
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 8 reviews)
List Price : $14.95
Our Price : $8.89
|
|
| |
|
Product Description |
Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book, journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending adventure travel, geology, exciting new research, and her own irresistible charm, Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable, glamorous, and mysterious substances on earth.
With the same intense curiosity and narrative flair she displayed in her widely-praised book Color, Finlay journeys from the underground opal churches of outback Australia to the once pearl-rich rivers of Scotland; from the peridot mines on an Apache reservation in Arizona to the remote ruby mines in the mountains of northern Burma. She risks confronting scorpions to crawl through Cleopatra’s long-deserted emerald mines, tries her hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo bartered for sapphires, and investigates a rumor that fifty years ago most of the world’s amber was mined by prisoners in a Soviet gulag.
Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth’s mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power, and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond, to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured, to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond, Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.
From the Hardcover edition. |
| |
|
| |
|
So, um ... Do you sell pressed-talc engagement rings? |
"Throughout Asia and Europe, pearls were traditionally believed to ease a range of conditions, including eye diseases, fever, insomnia, 'female complaints', dysentery, whooping cough, measles, loss of virility, and bed-wetting ... Though nobody seems to advertise the potential for pearls to cure bed-wetting anymore." - Victoria Finlay in JEWELS
JEWELS is one of those delicious volumes you read for the pure pleasure of acquiring esoteric knowledge that has no practical, everyday use. Similar books I've read that come to mind include Salt: A World History, PURE KETCHUP PB, Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World, and Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. If someone has penned a narrative entitled WIRE COAT HANGERS, I'd read that too if the subject was made interesting. (There isn't; I checked.)
Author Finlay's approach is to discuss nine gemstones, three "organic" and six mineral, in the order of their position on Mohs' Scale of Relative Hardness. They are, listed by increasing hardness: amber, jet, pearl, opal, peridot, emerald, sapphire, ruby, and diamond. (On Mohs' scale, talc occupies position #1, i.e. the softest. My wife treasures her pressed talc engagement ring.)
Finlay, a social anthropologist turned journalist, is no desk-bound researcher. To write JEWELS, the story of the various gems' sources and evolution in societal value systems, she traveled the world: Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian Federation), northern England, Japan, Australia, Arizona, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and, perhaps the hardest to access, Antwerp's Diamond Club. The book begins with European, Asian, Japanese, and Australian "treasure" maps. Indeed, on asking what to look out for prior to visiting the remote site of Cleopatra's emerald mines in Egypt's desolate interior mountains, she was told, "Scorpions."
JEWELS contains an 8-page section of color photos as well as a liberal sprinkling of black and white snaps and illustrations. Oddly, it's the color section that comes up short, a fact which compels me to award 4 stars to what would otherwise be a five-star effort. Only examples of amber, pearl, opal, and diamond are pictured. There is no display of jet, peridot, emerald, sapphire, or ruby; I, an ignoramus when it comes to the topic, had to resort to the Internet. And there are no photos of two of the largest and most famous diamonds of history specifically mentioned in the text: the Cullinan(s) and the Golden Jubilee. Moreover, the Hope Diamond is given visual short-shrift considering its fame.
JEWELS concludes with a 19-page, perhaps useful "Miscellany of Jewels", which includes a glossary of terms, color scale and clarity terms for diamonds, a listing of American state gemstones, popular vs. mineral names for gemstones, Mohs' Scale, and a listing of birthstones. "Miscellany" is certainly the operative term.
Victoria's narrative is instructive and entertaining from start to finish. Except for the deficiency mentioned, one could hardly ask for more. |
| |
|
travel, history and gem facts all in one |
I picked this book up in a museum shop because I love jewelry and have always wondered about where jewels and gems come from.
Other reviews have given an overall synopsis, so I will just say that there are fascinating stories in this book.
The story that captivated me the most was the author's search for opals in Coober Pedy, Australia, where the sun is so intense that the people used to live underground. Finley has included a photo of an elderly miner outside his underground home.
Finley went down into the opal mines, as she did many other mines around the world in search of jewels.
She incorporates many photos and engravings, several in color.
But, the author's last paragraphs are probably the best:
"We can use diamonds in whatever way we like.....There is desire to make someone happy, there is admiration, there is ostentation...and there is a company's profit curve.The diamond I was holding was about illusion and about slicing through illusion. It was about forever and never, and it was about nothing at all." |
| |
|
Interesting, well-written |
|
Very interesting book that's well-written. I bought another of Ms. Finlay's books, "Color" because I liked this one so much. I like how she's organized the 'chapters' on the Moh scale of hardness, and the stories of her adventures in discovering each of the gems are just wonderful. A great, informative, enjoyable read. |
| |
|
a casual read with some interesting facts |
|
This book is similar to the other one by the author on Colors. I enjoy the history and the facts. I am sometimes bothered by her style that is often too emotional and overly emotional for my taste. |
| |
|
Great book on Gems |
|
This book gave the history, stories, and myths about each stone. I loved this book. A very quick read. |
| |
|
|
|
