Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones

Product Information

There is a picture of each stone at the beginning of each chapter and the page edges are tinted with the colour of the respective stone. Yet, there's hardly any science at all, and what little there is – well, it's not very well explained. Hettie Judah is chief art critic on the British daily paper The i, a regular contributor to The Guardian’s arts pages, and a columnist for Apollo magazine. The essays are shaped with great skill and Judah finds curious and pleasing symmetry and coincidences in the varied stories she tells .

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. Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, Lapidarium is a collection of essays about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared history. These are stories about rocks, it’s not a geological textbook, but I learned a hell of a lot on the way, mostly I learned how little I know about geology and how cool rocks are.

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.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. In Lapidarium , renowned art critic Hettie Judah explores the unexpected stories behind sixty stones that have shaped and inspired human history, from Dorset fossil-hunters to Chinese philosophers, Catherine the Great to Michelangelo. 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 though I read this book straight through from start to finish, this is absolutely the sort of bibliomantic tome that one might flip through at random, choosing a chapter based on mood or whim: learn a weird rock fact, let it lodge in your brain like a wayward pebble in your shoe, and allow it to guide your energies for the day. 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.

From the hematite used in cave paintings to the moldavite that became a TikTok sensation; from the stolen sandstone of Scone to the unexpected acoustics of Stonehenge; from crystal balls to compasses, rocks and minerals have always been central to our story. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. Hettie Judah is an art historian, so this book about minerals and precious stones is not written from a scientific perspective. With pertinent references to sustainability, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening book with perfectly paced narration.

When compared to similar books across other subjects, like Around the World in 80 Trees, I find this sorely lacking. We hear of incredible discoveries, greed, curses and forgeries alongside the geography and geology of their origins.Stone by stone, story by fascinating story, Lapidarium builds into a dazzling, epoch-spanning adventure through human culture, and beyond. I had to switch from the book version to the ebook because the print in the hardcover version is just too damned small for my eyes.