Product Description
For centuries, diamonds have symbolized wealth, prestige and love; however, behind those symbols lies a world of deceit, monopoly and war. Hart follows the diamond trail around the globe, from the basement room where Gabi Tolkowsky, the world's greatest diamond cutter, faced the 599-carat Centenary diamond, to the fogbound smugglers' paradise of Africa's Diamond Coast. He records the heroic struggle of the 24-year old woman who discovered a multibillion dollar diamond mine on the Arctic Circle and describes the company that feared her most, masterminds of the great and shadowy diamond cartel. Combining history, science, business, and adventure, Diamond captures the essence of this priceless gem and the world that surrounds it.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 32 reviews)

Just the justification you need to save $1000 on your engagement ring! by Judson E. Crump (Mobile, AL)

4 Stars
July 10, 2008
"Diamond" is very illuminating. This book gives a great summarized history of the diamond business as it exists today: the DeBeers monopoly, the Koh-i-Noor, the recent exploration in Canada's Arctic, etc. It also explores some of the geology behind diamond mining, the art of cutting, polishing, and shaping the gems, and various smaller issues within the diamond trade. Hart does all of these things while maintaining something of a narrative continuity. It reads like a long, uninterrupted conversation with a professor over afternoon tea: smooth, objective, and knowledgeable.

Overall good first book about diamonds... by ck_361

4 Stars
March 18, 2008
Overall this was a great read. I knew nothing about diamonds. This book was mesmerizing with its explanation of how diamonds are formed, how people search for them, and how key players in the diamond industry rose to power and ran/run their companies. It was fascinating to learn about the stories surrounding some of the worlds premier diamonds; I never knew, or cared, but now I would certainly like to see diamonds like the Great Star of Africa, the Centenary, and the Koh-i-Nor. Unfortunately this book didn't always engage me. I was glued to the first few chapters, but as soon as we hit the exploration of diamonds in Northwestern Canada I faded away; drifting back and forth to reading and cleaning my house. The problem is, Hart is able to absorb the reader in the first few chapters by describing very clearly the history of diamonds, but as soon as the staking of Canada comes into play, the writing style changes. I felt like Hart had written two books, and I had to muddle my way through to get to the other side of it and back to the book I had been enjoying. There is interesting information to be gained in these chapters (beginning with "The Long Hunt"), but perhaps it's because I'm not into diamonds that I found the information a bit boring and too needlessly detailed compared to the previous chapters. The book does discuss "conflict diamonds" or "war diamonds," which is mainly why I picked up this book. Unfortunately it doesn't cover enough of it. Hart discusses how easy it is for "conflict diamonds" to intermix with other diamonds so that buyer wouldn't / couldn't know their origins before they purchased the diamonds. He also discusses how companies do little to prevent "conflict diamonds" from entering their mix and selling them. And how easy it is for people working at diamond mines or for diamond companies to steel them (very fascinating, but would like to have read more about it). Hart does discuss methods that could be used to distinguish "conflict diamonds" if only companies were willing to go the extra mile. One of the most interesting things I learned in reading this book was India's ability to profit from their cheap labor in polishing and cutting smaller diamonds. I had been reading books about offshoring jobs to India and China, and found it surprising that India had managed to gain a foothold in the diamond market as well - who knew? Another thing I learned, but not directly in this book, is that the Rhodes Scholarship was founded by Cecil John Rhodes, the founder of De Beers. I do have to add that having read this books I am less likely to want to own another diamond.

The Modern Diamond Industry, from Speculators to Sorters to Cutters to Crooks. by mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA)

4 Stars
December 16, 2007
Matthew Hart, former mining editor of the Rapaport Diamond Report, opens "Diamond: A Journey to the Heart of an Obsession" with the journey of a spectacular 81-carat pink diamond, from the "garimpeiros" who plucked it from Brazil's Abaete River in 1999 until its disappearance into the hands of a private collector. The saga provides a window on the idiosyncrasies and uncertainty of moving a truly rare diamond through the trade and a seductive introduction to this recent history of the diamond business, which dealt in $6 billion of rough per year when this book was published in 2001. Hart periodically digresses for explanations of how diamonds are formed, a brief history of De Beers Consolidated Mines, and exotic stories of famous and famously expensive diamonds. But this book's primary focus is on developments in the diamond industry over the past few decades. Two chapters are dedicated to the breathless race to find and exploit diamond pipes in Canada in the 1990s, from the innovative use of high-chrome low-calcium garnets as diamond indicators to the frantic "staking rush" that pit BHP, Aber, and Dia Met against one another in Canada's frozen Barrens. We peek inside Nos. 2 and 17 Charterhouse Street in London, where De Beers diamonds are sorted and sold, and "Diamonds" brings us up to date on the cartel's abandonment of its historic "market custodian" role. (For an in-depth account of De Beers' fascinating and speckled history, see Stephan Kanfer's The Last Empire.) There is a chapter on the hazards and thrills of cutting and polishing diamonds, including the 274-carat, 247-facet Centenary Diamond, cut by Gabi Tolkowsky in 1991. No discussion of diamonds would be complete without mentioning its time-honored "culture of brigandage", as Hart puts it, so he regales us with tales of modern diamond crooks. Particularly interesting is the rise of India's diamond polishers, who created the market for low-end diamonds from stones that had not previously been considered gem quality and thereby changed the economics of diamond mining. Hart dedicates a chapter to the issues raised by the "diamond wars", or "blood diamonds". This was written during the Sierra Leone Civil War and before the Kimberly Process. "Diamonds" jumps around a lot, covering a lot of geography and various aspects of the business. As a whole, it presents a picture of how and why the diamond industry changed in recent decades and what it is today.

Diamonds and lessons in globalization by Mohan Babu (Global)

4 Stars
September 08, 2007
Though my background in diamonds - not counting some jewellery I got my better half sometime ago - is almost nil, I picked up the book because of the attractive title and jacket ... and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the journey narrated by Matthew Hart. The book, peppered by anecdotes and stories, presents a great overview of the complex diamond trade. The book is as much about globalization of business as it is about shining stones for which consumers pay millions. And this is where the author creatively weaves narratives around aspects of the Business of diamonds: production and extraction, value addition during each aspect of the chain, marketing and promotion and the complexities of pricing and gobalized supply chain. The chapter (Rosy Blue) on the Indian contribution to the modern value chain of the diamond industry was especially interesting to read. Not many of us realize that much before Indians became synonymous with the global hi-tech and software industry, Indians were already well entrenched in the international diamond trade. The parallels between the two industries are unmistakable: * Hundreds of thousands of cutters and polishers (programmers and designers?) work offshore in back-offices * There has been a strong ambition to move up the value chain: by gaining representation as DTC sightholders (or management consultants to Fortune 500 clients) * The majority of foot-soldiers in the trade remain `invisible' though a few leaders are the visible face of the trade in Antwerp (and in global technology consulting)

Interesting Gem by RockNerd (Phoenix, AZ)

4 Stars
June 30, 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed the read. A good over view of the orgin, history, exploration, marketing, and commodity of the diamond market, without the dry technical jargon. I was completely facinated by the gamble one takes by purchasing large stones in the rough, and the tedicious craftsmanship that goes into cutting and polishing a beautiful diamond. I loved the history and discussion on famous diamonds and their journey though the hands of royality, soliders, religous conflicts, and theifs. Made you stop and think, what are diamonds really worth? I would of enjoyed color photos thou!!!!!

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

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	Glitter & Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel by Janine Roberts (Author) Rare, romantic, and forever: The diamond industry depends on these myths to reap billions of dollars of profit. This sensational investigation explodes such fallacies and reveals how multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns create the impression of rarity and romance. It reveals a very secret and unromantic world, one that is dominated and controlled by a handful of mighty corporations. With Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie The Blood Diamond making more people than ever aware of the...
	Blood Diamonds: Tracing The Deadly Path Of The World's Most Precious Stones by Greg Campbell (Author) Journalist Greg Campbell leads the reader down the international diamond trail of brutality, horror, and profit - providing an on-the-ground and in-the-mines story of global consequence. First discovered in 1930, the diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international...
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