Noble Metals

Planet Earth

by Jeffrey St. John

Explains how gold, silver, and platinum are formed, mined, and refined, looks at coins, jewelry, and art objects, and discusses modern uses of precious metals

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first looked at this series of books I will admit I was intrigued about this title, I was not sure what the goal was for this title and what aspect of the natural world where they going to discuss and explore.

Well I decided the find out (obviously) and I must say it was not what I was expecting.

You see the book was a mixture of history - and geography with a lot of geology thrown in for good measure.

The book told of the historical significance and the impact it had on how the world was shaped from ancient times to the gold rushes of he previous century. How it shaped exploration and trade.

But there was also a large section on how these precious metals can come about scattered across the world - from deep veins running underground the nuggets waiting to be found in river beds.

Thrown in a little bit of chemistry about what these metals are so special along with a little bit about how they are finding new uses in a modern world (don't forget this book was written in the early 80s and you have the Noble Metals book.

I must admit reading it the essays and articles do all fit together but at the time I thought it a rather challenging title and interesting choice.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought gold, silver, and platinum could be so interesting!