Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones

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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. There was nothing really wrong with this listen, it just didn't grab me and writing this review so far after the fact I don't feel that I retained much. With pertinent references to sustainability, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening book with perfectly paced narration. 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.

Lapidarium is a wonderfully informative history of sixty of the most fascinating stones, their many stories and the people and places linked with them.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. So read this and enjoy, but keep your phone, tablet or computer handy so you can look up the many interesting things mentioned. Together, they explore how human culture has formed stone, and the roles stone has played in forming human culture.

It's got history, art, science, anthropology, geology, archaeology, history of fashion, religion, culture, folklore, industrial history, and so much more. I think the book could've also benefited from more pictures, rather than just the single picture of each stone at the beginning of a chapter. Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, Lapidarium is a collection of essays about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared 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. 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. When compared to similar books across other subjects, like Around the World in 80 Trees, I find this sorely lacking.

She regularly talks about art and with artists for museum and gallery events, and has been a visiting lecturer for Goldsmiths University, London and Dauphine University, Paris. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Our advancement as a species came about by forging stone tools even now the Industrial Revolution was possible because of coal. 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.

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. The author doesn't have a science background, but surely a consult wouldn't have been out of the question?