Travel to Africa

The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire

Format: Hardcover
Author: Tom Zoellner
ReleaseDate: 30 May, 2006
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Rating:

eye opening
if you have a heart, you should stop buying diamonds, read this book and then see if you still desire them . and now that a movie is out on the same topic, perhaps the book gains more interest. . . if so, at least you'll know which ones you should buy.

This book will make you laugh AND vomit at the same time


The authors engaging narrative and extraordinary depth in terms of reasearch for each topic he covers related to the diamond trade is remarkable and so addictive, the book is virtually impossible to put down. I purchased this book on Friday and sat in the parking lot of the book store reading it until I realized two hours had passed. . . which is why I devoured it in one night.

The author relates his experiences in such a way that even though the subject matter is mostly horrifying, there were moments of such outrageous hypocrisy and incredulity that I found myself laughing at the some of the more benign incidents because if I didn't laugh there would be no recourse but to cry myself into a fetal position while hiding under the bed.


The revulsion began when the author related the children eating sandwiches made with shoe polish, the people in Africa whose limbs were amputated to keep them from voting, the miners who were evicerated because thugs dressed as police thought they had swallowed a diamond.

But the waves of nausea that were induced by those repulsive revelations were NOTHING compared to the uncontrollable wretched gagging created by the documented evidence of the greedy machinations perpetuated by the De Beers Diamond Cartel.

I never thought about diamonds the way the De Beers corporation seems to think I SHOULD think about them. As in I should hate myself if I don't have one.


The putrid aggressive marketing campaign related to diamonds was shocking to read about ESPECIALLY when the author relates how De Beers were able to change an entire culture just with a simple but aggressive marketing campaign. The chapter dealing with De Beers shoving diamonds down the throats of Japanese was appalling in the extreme. Especially the ad campaign suggesting men were worthless for not spending three months salary on a diamond for their woman. It was galling to hear about how the De Beers advertisers went into American schools to "educate" girls on why they needed a diamond??? It was breathtaking to finish the book and turn on the tv and see first hand the nature of venal advertising campaigns whose primary goal seems to be toward making people feel small and inadequate if they don't have an iPod, an xbox or in the case of this book. . . A diamond.

The author has a great line about how nefarious the diamond trade is because the advertising executives have effectively convinced the world to spend millions of dollars on what amounts to nothing more than rocks. And they are not even rare rocks. The reason they are "so hard to find" is because these cartels have a chokehold on the industry by hiding all of them in their underground vaults so they can keep the prices up.

This book was a gut wrenching eye opener especially the final chapter when the author interviews a couple who are in the process of "investing" in their first diamond.

He asks how they feel knowing that the diamond they were about to purchase might have passed through the gastric system of a murdered miner in Angola the man replies.

"why do I care, it doesn't affect me"

And THAT was the worst part of the book. It captured the real horror of the diamond trade. That being the abject apathy of western consumer culture where material ownership supercedes any sense of basic humanity.

This book was shocking, appalling, terrifying, depressing and left me feeling hopeless and sad. For such a visceral reaction I wanted to give it five stars but opted for four because of what was a GLARING and Crimminal omission.

I hope for the paperback edition the author and publishers will offer an epilogue with definitve information on what we can ALL do to affect a change in the industry so that children don't have to polish stones in India, so that voters can keep their arms and so that Americans will put the welfare of fellow human beings ABOVE owning a DAMN ROCK.

Outstanding
I give him an A+ on three counts. I think that this book is a marvelous accomplishment and I am so impressed with the author's efforts. First, it seems like an incredibly well-researched that seems like it must have taken a very long time to write, especially when all the travel time is factored in. If we assume that the author was not an expert on diamonds going into the project (which may not be a correct assumption), then everything he learned (and well conveys to the reader) is mind-boggling. Second, it was just beautifully written. Third, he discusses every imaginable "facet" (pun intended) of the world of diamonds and there seems to be not a single issue left unaddressed. I congratulate the author on this book.

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