Jewels: A Secret History
by Victoria Finlay
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Book Summary Information
Author: Victoria FinlayEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-08-14
ISBN: 0345466950
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Jewels: A Secret History
Book Review: Jewels is a True Gem of a Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Great book...Wonderful writing style. I have her other book "Color".
I own a small handmade stone and pearl jewelry business so the purchase was a must for me!
Am inspired by her inspiration of the stories and facts of gem lore.
Her push via husband father in law as refrenced in the Preface...
while in England at her father in laws memorial...Later taking a walk with her husband as they were discussing her doing this book or not and what her Father in law would tell her, that "you must do it"... While looking down into the canal a small canal boat named "Little GEM" happened to be going by just at that very momnet...Later found out "that it was rare for Little Gem to be on that stretch of the Thames: she is a weekend hire barge near Rugby, and only very occasionally finds herself so far south." One of Derek's (father in law) passions was canals and canal boats.
This world craves more great stories and inspiration to go along with the
facts...Victoria, you have artfully written another gem!
Thanks...
Summary of Jewels: A Secret History
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.
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