The Heartless Stone: Summary and book reviews of The Heartless Stone by Tom Zoellner, plus links to an excerpt from The Heartless Stone and a biography of Tom Zoellner.
The Heartless Stone A Journey Through The World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire
by Tom Zoellner
Hardcover: May 2006,
288 pages.
Paperback: Jun 2007,
304 pages.
The first book to offer a panoramic and unflinching look at the modern
diamond industry, The Heartless Stone is a journey across six continents to uncover the secrets behind one of our
most luxurious and costly status symbols.
The book takes you inside illegal mines in Brazil, diamond smuggling rings in
Africa, exploration rigs above the Arctic Circle, the sweltering polishing shops
of India. You will meet De Beers executives in London, high-tech tunnel drillers
in Australia, advertising gurus in Japan, starving soldiers in Angola, chemists
in Siberia, dealers in Belgium. They are all part of a vast economy which
supports the most sustained, expensive and successful advertising campaign in
history.
Diamonds are not particularly rare in nature. Nor do they have any intrinsic
value. So how did they become the birdcages for our deepest feelings of romantic
love and commitment? The answers will surprise you, as this book takes a probing
journey around the globe and into the human heart.
Diamonds are not particularly rare in nature, nor do they have any intrinsic value, so how did they become the symbol of our deepest feelings of romantic love and commitment? Tom Zoellner ably answers this question by taking the reader on a fascinating journey around the world to reveal the bloody story behind the shiny gem found in the jewelry collections of 7 out of 10 American women. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The author is expert with vivid prose ... This is a superior piece of reportage
Library Journal
His book is part personal travelog, using the return of his own proffered diamond engagement ring as the starting point, and part investigative journalism (although he compiles information more than he discovers new facts). The end result? A gem.
Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. Sparkling debut from adventuresome journalist Zoellner, who traveled the world to tell the dirty, glorious and sometime bloody story of diamonds. .... Lives up in every way to the power of its almost magical subject.
David Plotz, Deputy Editor of Slate magazine and author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank The Heartless Stone is like a
diamond itself: clear, brilliant, and sharp as can be.
Tom Zoellner has been everywhere and seen everything in
the world of diamonds, and has come back with
extraordinary stories of how this humble stone drives
men to madness, deceit, corruption, and cruelty.
Charles Bowden, Contributing editor of Esquire, and author of fourteen books including Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America.
This wonderful book takes us to the heart of the meaning of life and for many of us this heart beats in a cold gem that can slow the speed of light and whisper love with dollar signs. Diamonds mean so much because they are empty of any meaning save our hungers. My God, I would do nothing but read if all books were this honest and clean and true.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Valerie A new way to look at diamonds This book is an engaging and enlightening read. I normally read fiction, so for a non-fiction book to hold my interest it has to be good. This is very good! It will change the way you look at diamonds forever.
Tom Zoellner has worked as a
contributing editor for Men's Health
magazine and as a reporter for the
San Francisco Chronicle. He is also
the co-author of
An Ordinary Man, the
autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina,
whose actions during the 1994 Rwandan
genocide were portrayed in the movie
Hotel Rwanda. Zoellner lives in New
York City and is at work on a third
book.
More about diamonds:
Global Witness is an NGO that works
to expose the link between natural
resource exploitation and human rights
abuses. Their website provides
substantial background reading and also
a
consumer guide about conflict diamonds.
'Offers an exquisite chronicle of the rise and fall of this bituminous black mineral.... Part history and part environmental argument, Freese's elegant book teaches an important lesson about the interdependence of humans and their natural environment both for good and ill throughout history.'
Fortey introduces the reader to the extraordinary people, meticulous research and driving passions that helped to create the timeless experiences of wonder that is London’s Natural History Museum.
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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(507 words).
David Plotz, Deputy Editor of Slate magazine and author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank
of 5
by Valerie
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