Amber: The Natural Time Capsule

by Andrew Ross

Amber is an engaging overview of this natural substance. It also explores how the fossilized inclusions trapped in the golden resin of spruce trees provide a superb record of prehistoric species and habitats. Lavishly illustrated throughout, this book includes all the current knowledge and ongoing research, such

Genres: Geology, Science, Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Andrew Ross is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and a social activist. A contributor to The Nation, the Village Voice, New York Times, and Artforum, he is the author of many books, including, most recently, Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City and Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times.

Reviews

[Aileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought from the Natural History Museum as I love, and have lots of amber jewellery. The first bit was very interesting, explaining how amber is formed, where it came from, the differences, and the different inclusions, with lots of accompanying photos. Then it got a little too technical for me, and an awful lot of stuff on how to identify an inclusion. I skim read this part and probably didn’t need to take a lot in as I’ve never yet found amber on our beaches.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend of mine bought this book, expecting it to be about fashion jewelry, but was a bit disappointed. She sent it to me because of my entomological interests. I found it an interesting summary of amber's formation and various inclusions, but a bit choppy. While I generally try to avoid spoilers, the ending of this book was so odd - it ends with a taxonomic description of weevils. I turned the page, expecting some concluding chapter maybe going back to the preservation of amber or likelihood for finding new deposits in the future, and instead found the glossary. The best part of the book was the photographic artwork. Nearly every page had some sort of amber photography, clearly done with well labeled subtitles.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not be misled by the cover! When I first saw this bright, slim book, I judged it and thought that maybe it is just for kids - after all, "real" science books are 300 pages with long names and dull covers. In fact, this is actually a solid book for everything you would want to know about amber. If you are trying to impress the Nobel committee then you should probably refer to the academic books cited in the bibliography, but otherwise this book is perfect.

My favorite part is that for the arthropod fossils, there are a ton of field classification charts with binary choices (e.g., 2 wings or 4 wings? if 2 go to 26, if 4, go to 27). Every clade that is described in the text has at least 1 photograph to describe it (unless it is mentioned as being so rare as to be unnecessary), and the author also clearly distinguishes between Baltic vs Dominican vs Burmese amber, etc., in terms of environmental setting, age, and fauna.