Jewels: A Secret History

I must admit, I am captivated by jewels: their shine, their brilliance, their color. Thus, I was excited to read a history of jewels. Finlay's is a social history, examining how human beings have constructed the value of brilliant minerals. This is not a comprehensive study. Finlay has chosen a

Show More

series of case studies, the research for which took her all over the globe, from Australia, to Russia, to Sri Lanka, to the American southwest. This is quite an interesting book, and it certainly does show that these stones that human beings so treasure have no inherent value. This is evident in the changing fortunes of so many stones, which have variously fallen in and out of favor. It also becomes clear through the course of Finlay's work, that stones have, and do, cause a tremendous amount of human suffering. Indeed, in the long history of gems there has been much more misery than fortune. Finlay's history is clearly narrative in nature. She is concerned with telling some of the most interesting stories behind the jewels. It is not a book that analyzes the larger social forces behind many of these changes. Still, this is an interesting book. Finlay gained access to many places most people cannot. She travelled to some of the most unforgiving parts of the world in search of the people who mine, cut, and sell valuable stones. Any jewelry-lover will likely find this book engaging.

Show Less

Disappointing. This was more of a travelogue/memoir than an organized history of gems. Not as well researched as I would have liked either.

I really enjoyed this book, it was well written and engaging with enough detail that you learn something new but not so much that it gets bogged down in details.

Each chapter deals with one specific type of gem stone, including ones such as jet that I would not have thought of, and explains how they

Show More

came to be, their history and impact on the various cultures and times.
I especially appreciated the look at the social history of the gems and how they are often still evolving.

Show Less

I did enjoy this book; it was a steady combination of history,travel,geology and social anthropology. It was a very informative book, but I did find, that the author was fairly clinical about how she pulled the threads of the book together, but nonetheless, I did find the book interesting, but it

Show More

could have been so much better.

Show Less

nteresting and entertaining look at gemstones and where they come from. I learned that birthstones were invented in 1912 by some jewelers with overstocks of certain stones. There's lots of fascinating lore here. Finlay doesn't waste any time on what is common knowledge, she jumps right into the

Show More

arcane and the obscure. Her voice is engaging and her style is sure.

Show Less

This was a really fascinating book, each chapter telling the in-depth story of the history of each particular gemstone. I would recommend it for anyone interested in jewelry and/or microhistories. Amber, pearls, jet, peridot, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and diamonds were all covered. My only

Show More

complaint would be that I wish more stones had been covered; for example amethysts or citrines or really anything in the quartz family.

Show Less

I remember reading this my senior year of high school because Clemson's honors college application asked what the last book you read was, and this was it- so definitely November some time. I really like this quirky histories of specific objects- scientific properties, cultural significance,

Show More

economic import of today. Might do a more thorough review if I reread it.

Show Less