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Pyrite - A Natural History of Fool's Gold (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R940
Discovery Miles 9 400
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Pyrite - A Natural History of Fool's Gold (Hardcover)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Most people have heard of pyrite, the brassy yellow mineral
commonly known as fool's gold. But despite being the most common
sulfide on the earth's surface, pyrite's bright crystals have
attracted a noteworthy amount of attention from many different
cultures, and its nearly identical visual appearance to gold has
led to tales of fraud, trickery, and claims of alchemy. Pyrite
occupies a unique place in human history: it became an integral
part of mining lore in America during the 19th century, and it has
a presence in ancient Sumerian texts, Greek philosophy, and
medieval poetry, becoming a symbol for anything overvalued. In
Pyrite, geochemist and author David Rickard blends basic science
and historical narrative to describe the many unique ways pyrite
makes appearances in our world. He follows pyrite back through the
medieval alchemists to the ancient Arab, Chinese, Indian, and
Classical worlds, showing why the mineral was central to the
development of these various ancient cultures. Pyrite can be
tracked to the beginnings of humankind, and Rickard reveals how it
contributed to the origins of our art and storytelling and even to
our biologic development as humans. But pyrite has unique
scientific properties as well: the book distills how oxidation
makes fool's gold look like a precious metal, and shows how pyrite
can choke out oxygen from water, creating large "dead zones " in
our oceans. Rickard analyzes pyrite's role in manufacturing
sulfuric acid, a compound used for everything from cleaning drains
to fertilizing crops. Its influence extends from human evolution
and the formation of societies, through science and industry, to
our understanding of ancient, modern, and future earth
environments. Energetic and accessible, Pyrite is the first book to
show readers the history and science of one of the world's most
fascinating minerals.
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