Stoned: Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World

Fantastic writing and fascinating approach on the subject of jewels, luxury and desire. Raden writes in such a way that you can be laughing and learning at the same time! It’s a great book for anyone working in Jewellery retail and has helped me understand the history of why people desire to acquire luxury, and equally loading you with lots of useful history and stories to sell. Great as an interest and education read - I’ve since passed this book on to a friend and need to get another copy! Looking forward to future publications from this author.

This book looks at a few gemstones and discusses their history and indeed some of the more lucrative items of jewelry created using these gemstones over time. The book begins with a introduction into diamonds and how their perceived value was all the marketing ploy of De Beers. The book gives a sweeping overview of some of major pieces of jewellery that have been created with diamonds - most notably Marie Antoinettes famous diamond necklace. The chapter on emeralds makes for fascinating reading from how they are formed in the earths crust to their conquest by the Spanish in Colombia. Pearls get a lengthy discussion on their formation in the innards of mollusks to the famous and their history from La Peregrina to modern day "cultured" pearls in Japan (which are still real pearls, just farmed, if that makes sense......). The story of the most expensive Easter eggs going - Russian Faberge eggs - are given some very detailed discussion with some fascinating insight how Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum played his part in bringing them to America. Though I found it a bit annoying/bizarre that the story was intermittently interrupted by a paragraph on the details of one of the Faberge eggs - 14 times I think. It would have been better in an Appendix. The style of the authors writing is certainly unique. She has clearly pushed the publisher hard to get across her personality which includes many subjective tongue in cheek comments such as "he makes my skin crawl". Some may find it annoying at times but I thought it was most appropriate and actually added to the enjoyment of the book. There are a couple of reasons why this book is only 4 star and not 5. She sometimes goes on far too long about how frivolous Marie Antoinette was in her personal life - while interesting - gets lost from the story of diamond necklace or indeed diamonds in general. The same could be said about the love triangle involving Mary Tudor and King Philip of Spain which goes on for 10+ pages without really adding to the story of the pearl. At the same time her research on many aspects of history is pretty decent for someone who is not a historian. But another reason for deduction of the star is that none of the historical references are referenced. There is no reference list at all actually, which in a book of such an amount of historical detail is a bit surprising. Yes it is a pain but it is necessary. Still a hugely enjoyable book and a great job to the author and publisher.

This was such an enjoyable read. Highly recommend if you are interested in the history of jewellery and their impact on human nature.

Incredible book about the power of perception, suggestion and how the dark side of human nature and our gullibility has determined the path and history of the world. I will never see things the same again. It is well written, easy to read, enjoyable, humorous, and fun. I've just bought another copy for my 11 year old, because she kept stealing mine. Everyone must read this book!

For something written by a non-Brit, surprisingly witty, and as expected very informative

Somewhat heavy going but, very informative and enjoyable

This is not a serious book about gemstones, but it is a fun, easy read and has thought seriously about what makes something valuable in modern society.

A well researched book which will capture the interest of readers who like jewels, and history in general. The style is easy to read, the book very informative.

I have always loved history… but this was a completely new way of looking at it - certainly changed the way we look at the world

I'm only on the second part (having a pile of new books that all need reading) but I've had more than one giggle reading Aja's book. This lady writes it like it is and I love the way she writes. I don't know all that much about jewels (not having a whole lot of them!!!!) and aside from giving me a laugh I'm also learning. I would recommend this book to anyone who a) likes history b) likes smile and a giggle and c)just likes a damn good read!

An absolute Gem of a book I loved this book. What type of book is it though? Is it a Yuval Noah Harari big picture look at humanity? Is it a Stacy Schiff event-based push through history? Or is it a subtly irreverent Mary Roach-type non-fiction book? It's a little bit of all of these. I came in expecting a Harari-esque high-level overview of humanity and its conception of value, and though Aja Raden provides that - she definitely lapses into pure history. Emeralds bring her into being able to show the fight between Spain and England. Faberge Eggs allow her to tell the tale of early 20th-century Russia. De Beers? Haha - well that's its own chapter. But though this book employs many different styles - like diamonds actually are - there is plenty to go around. She begins with the New World, with the Dutch trading New York for beads, and then trading it again for a small rock in the middle of the ocean that was the only one that could make Nutmeg at the time. She talks about Tulips, and then Marie Antoinette and a fight over a necklace. Antoinette is hapless but harmless, and the French Revolution decided to value her as the enemy. She talks about a fight over jewelry and high Elizabeth and Spain shaped the world because of it. She talks about Japan and Mikimoto making pearls - and how to manufacture an industry and a demand both. In any case - I recommend this one. It meanders in style - but that can be a good thing. And watch out for the footnotes - some are citations, but wow - some are insightful, and some are hilarious.

It took me a while to finish it, but the information in this book is so incredible and invaluable. I learned so much about jewels, their history, where they came from nd why they are perceived as a certain way. I didn’t know that there was so much about jewels to know. I wish I knew it sooner. Absolutely recommend it!

Exploring the history from a different point of view. I loved every single line of this book, and fell in love with the Watches/Time part.