Karnataka - Bangalore   

All that sparkles…

fascinating: The book ‘Gemstones, Enchanting Gifts of Nature’ delves into all aspects of precious stones

Bangalore: Diamonds, it is famously said, are a girl’s best friend. All things that sparkle, surely, hold an allure without gender barriers. After all, no woman can beat politicians and film producers for the sheer size of stones they sport on their fingers.

Aesthetics apart, the science behind the iridescence of stones and the specialised techniques of cutting them and testing their authenticity are also equally fascinating. The illustrated Gemstones, Enchanting Gifts of Nature, written by Rama Viswanath Karanth, delves into all aspects of precious stones — from their chemical composition to the enormous human effort that goes into turning them into jewellery from their crude forms.

The book has been published by the Geological Society of India as part of its “Popularisation of Science Series,” meant both for students and the general reader. Divided into 16 chapters, it begins with basic information on what sets a precious stone apart from ordinary stones. It explains how a precious stone comes to be formed in nature and what painstaking effort goes into extracting it and turning it into a piece of jewellery.

And at a time when gems are increasingly associated with fortune and fate, this book staunchly sticks to science, barring a mention of birthstones and navaratnas.

The book is full of interesting details on the special properties of the various varieties of stones. For instance, the book explains what makes stones like opal and labradorite iridescent and those like tourmaline diachronic or reflecting two distinctly different colours from two angles.

Mr. Karanth’s book also has several interesting bits of information in boxes. They focus on a range of subjects from how karatage is determined to how impurities occur in crystals. The back cover of the book has a map of India that shows parts that have gem deposits. One finds that the deposits are concentrated in the southern tip of India and the coast along the Bay of Bengal.

The book is strewn with pictures and some of them are truly fascinating, like the one of a piece of golden amber with a 40-million-year-old insect embedded inside it!

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