Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic

Rating:
Summary: The Real Thing.
Review: This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand the history and geology of diamonds, what it takes to find them and what working as a mining exploration geologist or prospector is all about. It's well researched, technically informative without being pedantic and, what I found most attractive, really captures the flavour of prospecting and life in the bush as I've lived it myself. The only thing the book unaccountably lacks is photographs. Anyone thinking about entering the mining exploration game should read it to know what they'll probably be in for.

Rating:
Summary: This book has it all!
Review: Wow what a great story. Krajick manages to somehow intricately weave the history, science, and business of modern prospecting in a very fluid manner. How he kept it all together is really outstanding. I would recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in Geology or the arctic. He begins with a fascinating history of exploration in North America, of Diamonds in particular. (His account of Samuel Hearne's journey across the barrens was alone worth the price of the book). He lays out a story of a few average but interesting men and their unrelenting search a North American diamond source. For a science journalist he was very adept at letting the reader get to know all the characters in this story, some of them very flawed individuals. But somehow I was rooting for them and kept turning pages to see if they would succeed. It's as much story about human nature than anything else.