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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
May 2006, 288 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2007, 304 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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A journey across six continents to uncover the secrets behind one of our most luxurious and costly status symbols. 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.
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.
Chapter One
Dying Stars
Central African Republic
They had come across the river that morning, he said, as he took
the stones from his pocket.
He set them in a line on the patio table. They looked melted and
yellowish, as if someone had put them to a blowtorch. The smuggler and his three
friends studied me as I held one up to the sunlight and tried to peer into it.
We’re going to have to make this quick, said the man who owned
the house. The police could come in, and then we’d all be in jail. He smiled
vaguely at this thought. Across the alley, birds roosted in the broken-out
window frames of a government building.
The smuggler watched me handle the rock. He said something in
French to his friends. One of them tapped out a quick rhythm in his hand with
the butt of his cell phone. Another glanced at the door to the alley and
fingered the edge of the jacket he wore, even though it was a warm day.
You brought these from the Congo? I asked.
...
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...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
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. 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.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 ...
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