Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Pearls are nature's most perfect gems. Forming purely and iridescently within gnarled and briny shells, they require no cutting or polishing to reveal their radiant luster. Pearls have long inspired countless myths, metaphors, and legends in many of the world's cultures. Joyce and Addison examine pearls from the perspectives of history, science, commerce, art, and religion, tracing the roots of the spiritual significance of pearls and the reverence with which they are worn. Pearls have always been associated with supernatural powers, and their creation myths involve clouds, rain, the moon, even the tears of the gods. Pearls are believed to grant their owners "great vitality" and sexual fulfillment; they also symbolize purity, elegance, and power. While the sparkling narrative recounts pearl folklore in India, China, Greece, Rome, Persia, and Europe, sumptuous illustrations reproduce paintings of royalty draped in elaborate pearl adornments and photographs of pearls in their myriad shapes and hues, both unset and made into exquisite jewelry. The process of natural pearl formation, methods of pearl diving and pearl cultivation, and the faux pearl industry are all carefully explained, while the devastating impact on the world's oyster beds of the "pearl craze" of sixteenth-century Europe, epitomized by the extravagance of Queen Elizabeth I, is vividly described. A marvelous, original, and involving volume that celebrates nature's ability to turn a protective reaction to injury into a substance of timeless beauty. ~--Donna Seaman