Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones

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These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Not yet ready to leave this post-book mental space now lit crystalline and glittering with the fruits of the earth thanks to Hettie’s heady prose, I thought I might ask the author and art historian a few questions–which she kindly answered for me in this blog post https://unquietthings. This randomness does make it more interesting as amethyst is followed by cairngorm and tuff precedes turquoise. years ago Babylonians constructed lapidaries – books that tried to pin down the magical secrets of rocks.

Journeying from granite and old red sandstone, rocks formed deep within the Earth's crust, to the moon rock samples that only recently revealed how Earth's only satellite was formed, and through the realms of art, myth, geology, philosophy and power, from the Stone Age onwards, Lapidarium is a dazzling, epoch-spanning story of humanity, told through the minerals and materials that have shaped us and inspired us.Lapidarium is a wonderfully informative history of sixty of the most fascinating stones, their many stories and the people and places linked with them. I felt like I was reading a set of blog posts--not systematic, but an agreeable and informative experience overall. As much as I liked the Rani of Kapurthala's crescent-shaped emerald, I really can't say I know anything about emeralds in general after reading this book. Well, not really, but that is the tone this book takes, and despite the interesting collection of rocks and minerals detailed in this book, the focus is heavily and irredeemably skewed towards art and history.

It is visually stunning with very high-quality illustrations and an overall fantastic design of the book. As well as feeling good, it’s a beautifully presented book, with colours running through it, from the markers on the side to the muted colours in the depths near the spine.years ago Babylonians constructed lapidaries - books that tried to pin down the magical secrets of rocks. Here's the thing: I wanted to be able to come away from each chapter able to say a couple of sentences about each stone, but this book will leave you with a half–remembered sentence on someone who owned the stone in a century you probably won't remember. g. the daughters of Helios the sun god, and their tears of elektron or 'beaming sun', and how elektron is the root to electricity etc etc), we are offered the greek name, and then. The essays are written from a British point of view, which took a little getting used to (especially some of the pronunciations in audio book), but it was very well done. In her fascinating book, Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones, Hettie Judah explores the hidden history of these lithic marvels, from their role in ancient cultures to their modern-day influences and uses.

With pertinent references to sustainability, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening book with perfectly paced narration. Hettie Judah is an art historian, so this book about minerals and precious stones is not written from a scientific perspective. For instance, did you know that there is a "Meat-Shaped Stone" on display in Taipei's National Palace Museum that looks exactly like a delicious piece of slow-cooked pork belly? To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. I found myself locked out of the house with nothing to amuse myself with, no phone to play with, and a three hour wait for the next person with keys to show up.

It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. I wanted to love it – I think there should be loads of books encouraging us to reconnect with the natural world, to come away with some general knowledge about our planet and our surroundings and how it's shaped human civilisation at large. Find out how a Greek monster created coral, moon rock explains the history of Earth’s only satellite and obsidian inspired the world’s favourite computer game. Following publication of her 2020 study on the impact of motherhood on artists’ careers, in 2021 she worked with a group of artists to draw up the manifesto How Not To Exclude Artist Parents, now available in 15 languages.

This book is a fascinating glimpse into the world of precious stones and what they have meant to people over the years. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Might be a good reference for those seeking this type of information, and I discovered it was not me.Not all the stories are happy - for instance, you'll learn about the past and present abuses involved in the coltan and coal mining industries - but they are such interesting introductions to all kinds of topics you might never have heard of. Hettie Judah breaks her book down by types of stones into these categories;Stones and Powers, Sacred Stones, Stones and Stories, Stone Technology, Shapes in Stones and Living Stones. And not to mention the hysterical metaphysical WTFery of angel-appointed wife swaps in the chapter of alchemist and astrologer John Dee’s smoky quartz cairngorm, as well as, the mystical modern-day TikTik moldavite craze vibing amongst those of the witchy-psychic persuasion. Judah doesn't pretend to be writing a true scientific work here, and I'm sure that a geologist would find this a very glancing overview here, but she is instead writing at the intersection of geology, history, art history, and philosophy. We hear of incredible discoveries, greed, curses and forgeries alongside the geography and geology of their origins.