Amber : The Natural Time Capsule

by Andrew Ross

Amber has captured the human imagination for centuries, as amulets, ritual cups, and beads dating back 10,000 years attest. It is a fascinating substance, one that offers a unique intersection of the fields of paleontology, botany, entomology, and mineralogy. The fossilized resin of ancient trees, amber preserves organic material--most commonly insects and other invertebrates--and with it the shape and surface detail that are usually obliterated or hopelessly distorted during the mineralization we associate with fossils. To look at an ant or a bee caught in amber is to look not at an organism that has been turned to stone, but at the actual remains of an insect that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, remains that retain an uncanny semblance of life. Amber also offers clues to the evolution of certain behaviors, capturing such interactions as parasitism--a fruit fly with a parasitic mite still attached to it--or mutualism--a bubble of gas indicating the presence of beneficial bacteria in the gut of a termite. Unique to this book are identification keys to the most common insect inclusions as well as practical advice on how to identify all-too-common fakes. Amber will bring the study of this and its inclusions within reach of anyone with access to amber and a good magnifying glass.

Genres: Geology, Science, Nonfiction

73 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.