[.ca] Diamond (ISBN 0452283701)

Amazon.ca:
"Diamonds are forever," goes the familiar refrain, and we take the truth of that statement for granted just as we take for granted the inherent value of the much sought-after object. That phrase, though, was actually coined in the 1950s by a copywriter named Frances Gerety working on an ad campaign for the biggest diamond company in the world. That's just one nugget of information contained in Diamond, Matthew Hart's exploration of diamonds and the industry that has grown up around them. The Toronto-based journalist journeys from the wilds of South American to the barren Arctic landscape of Canada, the jungles of South Africa, and the back streets of India. Stops along the way include geologists' digs, a jeweller's cutting room, dealers' backrooms, and the boardrooms of industry titan De Beers. Some of Diamond, like a chapter in which a group of small-scale miners unearth "a large pink" on the Rio Abaete in Brazil, reads like first-rate airport fiction. Or a passage in which a diamond-cutter goes to work on a 599-carat "top-white" discovered in South Africa: "Gabi Tolkowsky studied the Centenary diamond for a year, discovering the magnitude of the challenge. As he scrutinized the larger cracks with a microscope, he saw, at the deepest point of penetration, networks of much tinier cracks and... a bubble. It was these infinitesimal bubbles that frightened Tolkowsky most." By the time the cutter has finished his examination, made models, and decided on the shape the diamond should be, three years have gone by. Not all of Diamond glitters--those whose eyes glaze over in the presence of too many numbers and dollar signs may find the backroom shenanigans a challenge, and one dig in particular in the Canadian wilderness seems to go on, well, forever. But the nuts and bolts of locating the mines, the actual cutting and shaping, the ultimate fate of the larger ones, methods of theft, and the creation of a demand for an essentially useless item ("Within three years of Gerety's late-night inspiration, 80 percent of American marriages were starting with a diamond ring") make Diamond a fascinating read for anyone with more than a passing curiosity about these bits of carbon that have become synonymous with both love and money. --Shawn Conner

I'm disappointed by this book:
I'm disappointed by this book. I expected a history of power, influence, and science relating to diamonds, or perhaps an expose on a ruthless and unethical industry. Instead, it reads like a collection of stories from diamond insiders, the kind of stories they would tell to bored outsiders during after-dinner drinks in the parlor. The description on the back cover begins "For centuries, diamonds have symbolized wealth, prestige, and love. But behind those symols lies a world of deceit, monopoly, and war..." But the book handles the substantive topics with kid gloves. It completely ignoring essential historic events like colonial abuses in Africa and King Leopold. You do get agonizingly detailed accounts of how exciting it is to discover a new diamond mine.

loosely strung theme:
First, this book can be read in two sittings. With that in my mind, most of its flaws can be forgiven. Chief among these is the fact that the book is essentially a collection of anecdotes and stray stories, rather than a straightforward historical narrative or discussion. The end result is not very gratifying and only slightly edifying. (The most interesting factoid: De Beer's marketing suggestion that one spend 2 months' salary on an engagement ring, is 1 month in Europe and 3 months in Japan.) Some minor, but frustrating factual inconsistencies, e.g., the # of grades into which De Beers sorts its diamonds, as well as some sloppy editing. It's funny that the book's cover includes a blurb from Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief. She pulls off this style of complex storytelling much more effectively and with a much clearer thesis that runs consistently throughout.

Story of a cold blooded love affair:
This is a good general account of the modern day diamond business, with the right mix of technical detail and story telling. The reader learns about how diamonds are formed, found and exploited, as well as the romance and large personalities behind the trade. As with most accounts of the gem-trade, the story inevitably revolves around the Goliath of the industry - the de Beers cartel, but Hart goes a long way to explaining how they rose to eminence and how they manage to exert so much control, even if this control is now waning. He also includes interesting details on the differing stages of diamond sales, from the selling of 'rough' to the marketing of the finished article that most of us associate with diamonds. Hart is to be commended for including a section on conflict diamonds, and how the trade in these is effecting the lives of thousands for the worse. He is cynical about how much the industry will do to stop the trade of these tainted gems, but the reader gets the feeling that his cynicism is not misplaced - much of his story is taken up with the greed and backstabbing involved in the search for and trading of this precious commodity. This definitely is a cold blooded love affair. But Hart manages to tell it as it is, leaving the reader to decide if diamonds really are worth the trouble and money that they currently command. There are few complaints about this book, only minor quibbles. One is very partisan - I would have liked to have read more about the Argyle diamonds of Australia, and how they have been attempting to make brown diamonds (champagne and cognacs to be more romantic) fashionable. I also would have expected more on the trading houses of Antwerp and Tel Aviv, but Hart was obviously more concerned with the swashbuckling nature of exploration. But as stated, these are minor quibbles - this is still a fascinating read.

And overall great read:
Hart left out Israel. This is my only complaint with "History..." Other than that omission, the book is satisfyingly complete, covering all major contributors to the diamond industry at every stage in production (that is, not just mining countries, but also countries where the rough diamonds are processed), without being excessively long or overdetailed. It is educational, but because the book is intersperses "field stories" with edifying text, it never gets boring or overly dry. Additionally, Hart's writing style itself is quite engaging.

A good book that makes you want to know more:
After reading "Diamond", I wanted to know more. More about what the diamond trade has done for (and to) the people of Africa, about what the search for diamonds has done to the environment of Canada, and about what the whole of the diamond trade means to the world economy. What would a diamond really be worth today were it not for DeBeers? How and why did Cecil Rhodes start endow the Rhodes scholor program at Oxford?