Kassia St. Clair Explores the History, Sources, and Meanings of Color

 

The Secret Lives of Color – Kassia St. Clair (2017)

            One of the greatest joys of my life is my ability to see color.  I delight in experiencing the vast quantity of shades and hues available to me on a daily basis.  I live fascinated by color.  Colors can affect me in ways nothing else can.  With this in mind, I found it most fortuitous to run into this great book by the columnist Kassia St. Clair.  It compiles and expands upon her weekly color column, providing intriguing details concerning the discovery/creation of individual colors, as well as describing the rise and fall of a given color’s popularity. 

            Kassia St. Clair divides her book into sections for each “color,” starting with Whites, Yellows and Oranges, then Reds, Blues, Greens, etc., all the way to the various shades of “Black” used by artists.  Within each section, she selects specific examples to focus on.  For instance, in the section on “Red,” St. Clair examines colors and color sources such as Scarlet, Cochineal, Vermillion, and Hematite, and how each color came into and out of fashion.  Humans are fickle beings, and we make up rules for everything, including color.  During the European Medieval period, when nearly every social and cultural decision was dictated by the rigidity and stupidity of Roman Catholicism, colors such as Red were reserved for a very select few, such as royalty or Bishops.  If you happened to be born into the so-called Lower Classes, your clothing color choices were minimal, and ordered by law.  Poor people were forced to wear only drab, boring colors, such as brown, tan and grey.  This is as much a function of societal control as any other law.  To keep the masses down and subjugated, one must trick them into thinking that they are worthless, and what better way to do so that by requiring them to dress in the colors of refuse. Every single color comes with such drama, and the author well explores these human stupidities.

            Another great aspect of color is the many sources humans have discovered or invented to create pigment.  Ancient man used the basic colors available to them.  These include the wide range of earth tones, reddish ones coming from hematite deposits, brown ones from specific soils, and black from the soot and charcoal created by campfires.  Such colors are found in abundance in Chauvet Cave, and other paleolithic art sites.  As humans evolved, and proceeded to make basic chemical discoveries (such as vinegar reacting with metal to form oxides), new methods of color creation appeared.  One of the most widely-used colors was Lead White, created when sheets of lead are oxidized in a vinegar bath.  The resulting white powder that forms on the outside of the Lead strips is super white, opaque, color-fast, and worked with most binders without unwanted chemical reactions.  This caused Lead White to become ubiquitous in paints, both for artists and for homes, and for makeup and cosmetic applications.  Many rich and powerful ladies gave themselves lead poisoning because of the fashion of the day, calling for the wealthy aristocrats to exhibit extremely pale complexions, a sign of high-class, as the lowly people are tanned and brown from outdoor menial labor.  Color is, and has always been, used to subjugate and divide us humans. The irony of the rich killing themselves via their own standards of beauty while demeaning those who cannot “afford” to the same is one of the many examples of the great Cosmic Joke we all reside in.

            The sources of color are as varied as the hues themselves.  Certain reds come from the crushed bodies of tiny beetles.  Some purples come from the tiny ink sacs of a specific Mediterranean snail.  Old artist paints used brown pigments sourced from thousand-year-old mummies, and yellows extracted from the urine of malnourished cows force-fed mango leaves.  Other colors arise from plants and their constituent parts, often through painstaking and difficult chemical processes.  It is a testament to the wit and wisdom of humanity that our ancient ancestors discovered these colors and how to create them.  Even to this day, the discovery of a new color can bring the discoverer untold riches, much as it did in the past for those men who discovered cadmium pigments in their personal chemical laboratories.  In fact, the color Mauve was discovered by accident by a researcher trying to synthesize quinine, a treatment for malaria.  To think that ancient man did essentially the same with lead and copper, creating pigments through chemistry, is awe-inspiring and humbling.

            Colors affect us innately.  They are used for wordless communication to this day.  Bright Reds and Yellows warn us, cautioning in their intensity.  Greens represent Nature in all its wonder.  Many cultures see Black as a symbol for mourning, while others see White as the color of grief.  Our lives are suffused with colors, with new ones appearing every day.  If there is a lesson to be drawn from Kassia St. Clair’s work it is that the emotional/intellectual weight of colors is purely created by our human experience.   There is no universal definition of any color or its meaning.  As with all things outside of our consciousness, humans force meaning where it does not exist.  The lies we tell ourselves often end up oppressing our fellow man.  Learning about the human connection to color and pigment helps us fight the delusions, and should be required reading for any artist.  It may be that we all need to understand that Life, and everything in Life, is but a process, a step forward among a marathon of concurrent and disparate steps.  The old Zen koan concerning whether a tree falling in a wood makes a sound if no one is there to hear it has always rung false.  Sound exists independent of any receptor.  It is solely the variant vibration within air, water, or earth.  Hence, sound exists whether our ears receive it.  I believe the old koan was a way to force a student to understand how miniscule and largely unimportant the human is to the workings of Mother Nature.  Colors were not invented for the enjoyment of us humans.  Colors existed for billions of years before Mother Earth spat out hominids, and will exist for trillions of years after we have forced our own extinction.  Long live color!

(This book can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Lives-Color-Kassia-Clair/dp/0143131141 )

Don S. Lemons Describes the Importance of Drawing in the Discovery of New Scientific Concepts

 

Drawing Physics: 2,600 Years of Discovery from Thales to Higgs – Don S. Lemons (2017)

 

            Small books are joyful books!  While I adore an imposingly thick reference work, dense and packed with information, I find great joy in the relatively small, concise, and engrossing books such as Drawing Physics, by Don S. Lemons.  The trick to these books is that they must be hyper-specific, or else the thread is lost and the writer loses focus.  Don S. Lemons cleverly designed this book to move forward, not only chronologically, but in the levels of scientific complexity.  The overarching idea explores the invaluable use of drawn imagery by scientists to either describe a previously unknown property of our universe, or to create a visual symbol of the scientific experiment or idea being described.  It is very clever, and builds upon itself, helping guide the reader through topics and ideas in the world of physics as they were developed and theorized, from antiquity to the modern day.

            If any book could claim to embody the old dictum, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” it is this one.  The simple drawings lead to very complex ideas.  Lemons succinctly describes each individual scientist’s life, and their educational and cultural backgrounds, providing a foundation for the amazing discoveries discussed in each chapter.  It is still eye-opening to understand how much our human ancestors managed to deduce and intuit, using just the observed details of the world around them.  We humans are a magnificent thinking creature.  Our ability to think is only rivaled by our ability to share our thoughts and conclusions.

            Whereas previously, humans only shared their knowledge orally, forcing students to memorize whole epic poems and philosophical treatises on nature, the advent of writing allowed humanity to pass on knowledge across time and distance.  The combination of drawn images and the written word?  It is likely the single greatest synthesis in human existence.  Much like the “thought experiments” used by scientists to imagine situations which are difficult to describe in words alone, the drawings in this book allow the reader to create a mental image, helping one understand the deeper meaning behind the formulas and theories described within.  Sometimes an image can provide an example of an inalienable truth of our universe, even though there are not yet words to describe the actual internal workings. 

            That is the beauty in art.  It provides communication between minds in an instant manner.  Even a simple doodle can express ideas so vast and complex that people could not understand them without the imagery.  Art also communicates across language barriers.  A beautiful painting or sculpture can be appreciated without language.  A diagram of a triangle, its angles, and the relationship between them, conveys knowledge across the centuries, much like Pythagoras and the theorem named after him.  Don S. Lemons has put together an amazing little book, valuable to anyone interested in the progress of scientific thought, and in the creative ways which scientists portray their discoveries.  I felt inspired and uplifted, in awe of the creativity and intellect of my fellow human beings.  Highly recommended.

(This book can be purchased here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535199/drawing-physics/ )

Wolfram Eilenberger Explores the Lives, Times, and Work of Four Great Philosophers

 

Time of the Magicians: Wittgenstein, Benjamin, Cassirer, Heidegger, and the Decade That Reinvented Philosophy - Wolfram Eilenberger, translated by Shaun Whiteside (2020)

 

            “Philosophy…is the talk on a cereal box.  Religion…is a smile on a dog.” – Edie Brickell and New Bohemians.

            The years between the Great War and World War II were a time of intense change for everyone, and nowhere was that change more evident than in the world of philosophy, specifically academic philosophy in Germany.  During those years, the four men listed in the title of this book achieved groundbreaking and deeply original work, publishing books that changed intellectual discourse and sought to dig into the core of what philosophy is, and how it makes any sense at all.  Like some sort of philosophical Great Attractor, these four men, and their lives and work, reached a critical mass of ideas and thoughtful inquiry in Germany between wars.

            Wolfram Eilenberger weaves an engrossing narrative out of the lives of these four philosophers.  He is masterful as he describes the early days of each man, their intellectual developments, and how they managed to elicit support, both financial and emotional, as they sought to grapple with ideas and thoughts so obscure, so esoteric, and so NEW, that they left little room for normal, human behaviors.  Each of these men sought to, in their own words and through their own original thought, not only understand the big questions in life, (Why do we exist?  What does it mean to “be?”) but also even more primal questions, such as “How are we able to discern truth?” and “How can we describe the infinite with our finite tools of language and words?”  These were heady times.

            Philosophers deal with pure thought.  Their lives are spent inside their heads, only occasionally popping up out of their studies and libraries to face other philosophers and engage in discourse about their ideas.  The life of the mind is a brutal and lonely one, especially if one is truly devoted to it.  These four philosophers and their lives shine a light on how difficult it truly is to not only achieve gainful employment as a philosopher, but to also have the time and resources needed for original, groundbreaking work.  If there is anything a philosopher despises it is a lack of originality, whether in their work or in another’s.

            One thing that struck me as I read about these four eminent thinkers, is that, no matter how orderly or precise their internal thoughts and writings present them to be, they are actually a hot mess of dysfunction, distraction, and human folly.  Several of these men sought to understand what the primal source of knowledge is, with some arguing for language, others arguing for the idea that the language represents.  In several instances, their ideological constructions come crashing down due to an aspect of life, seemingly not important to most 20^th century philosophers.  That one thing is Love.  Whether as young men or in middle age, once these philosophers discover true Love, real Love that is not tied to status, or money, or anything tangible, their lives are upended.  They did not account for the power of Love to rewrite one’s mind, to reconstitute what is important and not important, and to provide its own inherent satisfaction.  In many cases, it is enough just to be in Love.  Once this happens, their worldview begins to change.  For some, Love itself becomes the biggest mystery.

            I must heap some praise upon the translator of this work, Shaun Whiteside.  Having read many German books in their English translations, I can honestly say that Mr. Whiteside’s translation work is exquisite.  Ensuring that the information provided is correct is hard enough, but Mr. Whiteside also manages to convey the humor and wit found in German literature, which far too often is lost in the translation efforts to English.  I kind of wish he had translated Werner Herzog’s memoir.

            Either way, and I have stated this before on the Book Journey, most philosophy is a slog to read.  I find myself either agog at the obtuse mental gymnastics that much philosophical work consists of, or enraged by my inability to speak directly to the authors to point out the inconsistencies, errors, or plain delusions involved in their philosophical arguments.  Philosophy means “lover of wisdom.”  Sometimes, these philosophers act as if they were the one and only arbiters of truth and wisdom, excluding any other. They are always proved wrong.  No one has an irrefutable claim on what is Truth, Beauty, or Love, although nearly everyone who thinks themselves as smart or gifted will wish to assure you that they do in fact know what Truth, Beauty, and Love are. 

            I believe that studying philosophy is valuable, and can lead one’s mind into uncharted territories of thought.  I also believe that pure thought is just one aspect of human Truth.  Physical action also brings about Truth, Beauty, and Love, and does so without a single shred of philosophical thought, just pure human bodily experience.  Our Universe is one of constant motion and change, for, in a very real sense, we are all living within a giant, ongoing, nearly eternal (to our limited human timeframe) explosion.  To believe that, out of the myriad of possible consciousnesses arisen from within our Universe, one has reached a kernel of absolute Truth, is ego of the highest order.  Modern philosophers have a very tough road ahead, as they must contend with, and understand, all of the current scientific advancements before they can truly offer original thought.  Back in the old days, that would have meant reading 10-15 Greek classics, perhaps some Arabic masterworks, and some Latin works of literature.  Today, the world of thought is so vast, so splintered, that absolute Truth is a ridiculous concept, much less an actual possibility. 

Perhaps that is the brutality that confronted these four great minds, for not only was their world ending, with the imminent rise of totalitarian fascism in Europe and the terrors of WWII, but the very idea that the world is fully comprehensible purely by thought was soon to be deemed irrelevant and erroneous.  Physics soon showed how the vast microscopic structures of our Universe defy logic and human rationality.  Physics also showed how miniscule our initial ideas about our Universe were, for the Cosmos is far vaster than anyone ever dreamed it could be.  In fact, the Universe is so big that much of it is too far away for us to see, having expanded faster than light can travel.  It is facts like these, corroborated by evidence and bolstered by theory, that drive philosophers insane, for these truths are not reachable by the Mind alone.  I posit that the future of philosophy will no longer consist of individual minds, perusing the Universe and providing their ideas, but an amalgam of minds and thought, capable of including as much of the natural world as possible, and allowing for the differences in individuals.  If philosophy is a slow and steady path towards Truth, then it must include everyone and everything for it to be valid.  Let us hope humanity never runs out of lovers of wisdom.

(Thanks go to Dietmar Froehlich, Associate Dean, and Professor of Architecture with the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture at the University of Houston for the great recommendation.)

(This book can be purchased here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576741/time-of-the-magicians-by-wolfram-eilenberger-translated-by-shaun-whiteside/ )

Joan Halifax Elucidates the World of the Shaman for us Wanna-be's

 

Shaman: The Wounded Healer – Joan Halifax (1982)

 

            Sometimes the good books just keep coming!  Whether through synchronicity, plain coincidence, or just dumb luck, this amazing book found its way to my hands, and I am exceedingly glad it did.  Joan Halifax has managed that most-rare of feats, to write a slender volume packed with information and wisdom that is able to elucidate exactly what a shaman is, how they come to be, how their visions and experiences are seemingly universal, and how shamans themselves communicate about the experiences they endure for the betterment or benefit of the tribe around them.  It is eye-opening and quite a departure from the many other ethnographic and historical books I have read about shamanism and the role of the shaman in their respective cultures.

            In a very real and basic sense, the shaman is the one tasked with experiencing pain, death, and rebirth in order for them to understand and act upon the various otherworldly forces and powers that threaten, disrupt, or wrongly influence the tribespeople.  This is why this book is titled “the Wounded Healer.”  Only someone with the experience of death and rebirth can travel the worlds above and below ours.  Only they can talk to the spirits, travel through space and time, and come back to our mortal coil safely with their consciousness intact.

            Joan Halifax describes the various symbols which seem to be near-universal among shamans worldwide.  Some of them, such as the eagle, are emblematic of the shaman’s spirit rising to the world above.  Other symbols, such as the swan, or the water lily, serve as stand-ins for the shaman, for they not only inhabit, but thrive, in all three realms.  The Swan is just as comfortable flying in the heavens, walking around on land, and swimming on and in deep waters, just as the shaman is comfortable existing in our world, the underworld of demons and primal forces, and the aboveworld of the divine and beneficent spirits.  One universal symbol of shamanism is the World Tree, which serves as the Axis Mundi, or center of the world.  The roots of the World Tree reach down into the primordial lower world.  The trunk rises through our corporeal world, and the top of the World Tree reaches into the heavens.  It is this World Tree that shamans “climb” in their journeys and initiations.  The pictographs and artwork showing the World Tree are found everywhere humanity exists.

            One of the most profound statements in this book is a quote from an Iglulik Eskimo (Inuit) shaman told to the explorer Knud Rasmussen,

            “The greatest peril of life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls.  All the creatures that we have to kill and eat, all those that we have to strike down and destroy to make clothes for ourselves, have souls, souls that do not perish with the body and which must therefore be (pacified) lest they should revenge themselves on us for taking away their bodies.”

            It is this truth that runs through all shamanistic activity.  If we have souls, then everything has souls, and because of that, everything has its own consciousness.  Shamans do not claim that a stone is as intelligent as a human, but they do claim that the stone has its inherent right to exist just as we do, and that it carries a form of consciousness which is far older than short-lived human creatures.  The same is true for everything we see around us, including mother Earth, and the Universe itself.

            Shamans know that the process of creation, the birth of the Universe and of Life, is always ongoing.  They also are aware that the process of destruction, of the end of things, is also constantly occurring.  They do not see Time as a linear, step-by-step process, like a recipe, or a list of Ikea furniture instructions.  Everything exists in the ever-present Now, and only our faulty human senses show the world to be past, present, and future.  This is how the energy of creation can be harnessed by the shamans, and how they lose the fear of inevitable destruction that we all experience as the fear of death.  It makes for a powerful, if lonely existence. 

Most shamans lead solitary lives, devoted to their calling, and do not interact much with the tribes they protect.  The wisdom and experience gained by their shamanistic initiations and study distance them from the everyday people they serve.  Many people fear the shaman and their powers, yet they are an invaluable and requisite part of human society.  Our modern world, with its emphasis on technology and scientific advancement, has turned its back on shamans, but even so, individual humans seek out and explore the shamanistic way.  Something in our nature is drawn to the unknown, to the rarely explored, and many of us are especially attracted to the inner life of the mind.  The shamans are still all around us, separating themselves from the day-to-day static noise we call human endeavor, exploring that which cannot be seen, and holding the forces of the universe at bay for the rest of us.

Fred Gettings Gives us Eyes to See and Ears to Hear

 

 The Occult in Art – Fred Gettings (1978)

            “Occultism is the study of the spiritual world which is hidden from ordinary vision.  The word itself is derived from the Latin occulta, ‘hidden things’, and implies that the visible world is not the only one of importance to man.”

            Thus begins the most enlightening and insightful book on the occult images and ideas hidden in classical art I have ever come across.  This Library I work for is a GOLD MINE!  Born in 1937, Fred Gettings wrote extensively on occult and symbological matters, publishing many works before his death in 2013.  This book deals specifically with artists who embedded hidden imagery or knowledge within their artwork, and how to best “read” these works to understand the occult information conveyed within.

            First, I must define the “Occult” and what it means in this context.  As stated in the quote above, occult knowledge just means hidden knowledge.  Too many people buy into the lie told by christian leaders that occult knowledge is inherently evil, or satanic.  This is how they scare the deluded idiots into not asking questions or making their own decisions.  For example, when telling very young children about procreation, the story of the stork is often used.  This story occults the true process of procreation (carnal fornication, male ejaculation inside the female, and the coming together of two zygotes to form a living cell, which then splits and splits, cells differentiating, until a baby is popped out the vaginal tube, ready to breathe the good air of this world), replacing it with an inert and inoffensive tale of a stork that delivers all new babies to their mothers.  Until the child grows up and is taught, or discovers, the actual truth of procreation that knowledge is willfully occulted.  The reality has been hidden from children for their own good, or so many parents used to think.  This is also how religious and political leaders think of the great unwashed masses of humans outside their castles, temples, and private mansions.

            Fred Gettings was exasperated with the state of art criticism and art history at the time of his writing this work.  He was adamant that to understand the art of the past, historians and critics must take into account the intended purposes and meanings portrayed in the art itself, many of which related to the occulted knowledge shared by mystery schools, secret religious orders, and others who seek to retain and disseminate these ancient ideas.  Gettings’ complaints about art critics and historians still ring true today.  Too many art critics analyze work from the past through a very modern lens, one that places importance on modern artistic ideals, instead of the ideals of the artists in question.

            For example, one may view a 300-year-old painting of the crucifixion, which, through modern eyes and ideas, can be analyzed structurally, compositionally, and emotionally.  It is a valid form of criticism, but it leaves out the most important part of the artwork, the theme and subject, as well as the artist’s personal connection to the image he or she created.  William Blake was a well-known mystic and weirdo, yet many of the modern analysis and critiques of his work ignore that most salient point.  Each of Blake’s artworks come from a place of deep wonder and exploration into the metaphysical and spiritual inner mind of man.  In order to share those ideas in a visual medium, new symbols and metaphors must be created.  These symbols and the compositional elements are what Fred Gettings masterfully describes.

            Occult knowledge has a deep human past.  Initially drawn from the ancient Mystery schools that kept the advanced knowledge of our world and universe secret and safe amongst chosen initiates and away from the ignorant and violent masses, this knowledge has reached our modern world, surviving the past two thousand years of omnipresent suppression by the Catholic Church.  Many of the early christians had deeply symbolic and mythical ideas about the trinity, the divinity of Jesus, and the role of man in the cosmos.  It is man’s place in the world that many of the artists in this book analyze and explore.  Because of this, great insight is gained into the work of William Blake, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and other masters.  It is impressive how occult knowledge influenced the creation of abstract art, something modern critics fail to recognize, even as it stares them in the face.

            The main way to maintain occult knowledge and to share it with subsequent generations is through architecture.  It lasts much longer than written texts, or painted images.  The modern fraternal organization of Freemasonry is one of the descendants, at least in spirit, of the early secret societies.  During the first thousand years of organized christianity the builders of the churches designed and decorated them with many occult symbols and ideas.  If the wisdom is displayed in stone, it is available to any and all, even the illiterate and uneducated.  Including esoteric teachings and wisdom in images and architectural details ensured that only those “with eyes to see and ears to hear” understood the message, preserving the hidden knowledge from those that seek to destroy it, namely, the catholic church that styles itself as the supreme arbiter of what is real, important, christian, holy, etc. 

Fred Gettings is clear and concise in his explanations, and astute in his observations.  His attempt to share the hidden world of art serves to expand the mind, and open it up to new ways of seeing, of learning, and of understanding the artistic creations of our ancestors.  I look forward to digging up some more of Mr. Gettings insightful books, and sharing my thoughts about them with my readers.

Amber is Both an Object of Beauty and a Time Capsule of Ancient Flora and Fauna

 

Amber: Window to the Past – David A. Grimaldi (1996)

 

            Sunlight solidified.  That is how ancient man saw amber, initially discovered washed up on sea beds and beaches, reflecting the bright sun with its rich, often golden hues.  It must have seemed like such a magical material.  Sometimes completely transparent, sometimes opaque, this material came in a wide range of colors, from green to bright red, and possessed seemingly magical properties.  It felt warm to the touch, unlike other stones, and built-up static electricity. One of only two items used as gemstones that arise from natural, biological processes (the other being pearls), amber remains highly prized and very beautiful.  My fascination with amber has been lifelong, and because I am not fortunate enough to reside in an amber-rich location, I adore books such as this one by David A. Grimaldi, for they bring me not only a deep and considered history of the precious material itself, but also countless amazing photographs and reproductions from collections worldwide.  My jealousies abound.

            This wonderful book is divided into two sections, Amber in Nature, and Amber in Art.  The first chapter of the Amber in Nature section details exactly what is considered amber, its origins, and its properties.  True amber is very old.  Starting out as the resinous sap from a variety of trees (many of which are extinct), amber is created when this sap drips or falls to the ground and is covered by either water or oxygen-poor soil.  This allows the highly volatile chemicals found in the resins to either dissipate or break down while preserving the resin itself, sometimes for tens of millions of years.  Erosion and other factors work to bring up these deposits, oftentimes breaking off pieces and washing them away with the tide.  This is how early people found amber on beaches near ancient deposits.  In a world with very few transparent substances, it makes sense that amber was highly prized and divine.

            While prized for millennia for its gem-like qualities, in modern times the greatest value of amber lies in the inclusions found within.  Humans have always prized amber specimens with visible animals or plants trapped inside, often using these for jewelry or decoration.  Most did not know or understand how old the amber was, or the included animals and plants.  Scientists began to understand that the animals and plants in amber were sometimes tens of millions of years old, which led them to use the old amber collections for taxonomy purposes.  In even more recent times, the rise of scanning electron microscopy and other even better microscopes helped us see how much detail and preserved material was actually available within the amber itself.  Whereas most fossils found in rock strata are compressed, flattened through time and pressure, the fossils inside amber often retain their three-dimensional structure.  It has been found that the chemical composition of the amber not only sealed the specimens away from harmful oxygen, but the process of desiccation within the amber preserved many soft tissue organs, such as the brains, muscles and lungs of a hundred-million-year-old fly, all plainly visible under the microscope.  Amazing.  Even more insane is that individual mitochondria have been preserved.  These are some of the smallest constituents of any living animal’s cells.  I cannot imagine the glee and shock whenever a scientist first laid eyes on hundred-million-year-old mitochondria.  Those moments are truly singular, and are what scientist dreams are made of.

            Reading about the history of amber in art and decorative pieces was also enlightening.  While most amber is ancient, it is not an inert material.  Exposure to the atmosphere and bright lights can cause the usually shiny amber to be covered in cracks and crazed bits, rendering the outer “skin” of the amber opaque.  Because of this, many of the oldest art pieces do not glimmer or shine as they did originally.  If left alone, the amber would eventually crumble to dust.  Due to its fragility, amber was rarely used as a showpiece gemstone.  It did find much use in bead form, and as accent pieces for large, crafted items.  In fact, one of the most widespread uses for amber was in crafting rosary beads, meant to be touched one by one as prayers are recited.

            My fascination with amber has increased ten-fold due to this book.  It is a magnificent reference work and includes maps detailing the many places on Earth where amber is either found in situ or mined.  The closest location to me would be around El Paso, Texas, a 12-hour drive away.  Seeing as how I have family living there, I will someday go hunting for amber among the desert plants and animals.  If I am lucky my wife will come with me, although her loathing of dust may preclude such adventures.  Either way, this book entertained and enlightened me, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking an expansive exploration of amber and its many uses.

(For a very informative website about Amber, click here: https://amber-fossils.com/ )