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Gold by Matthew Hart
The Blurb On The Back:
From the lost empires of the Sahara to today’s frenzied global gold rush, a blazing exploration of the human love affair with gold by Matthew Hart, the award-winning author of Diamond.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold skyrocketed – in three years more than doubling from $800 an ounce to $1900. This massive spike drove an unprecedented global goldmining and exploration boom, much bigger than the Gold Rush of the 1800s.
In Gold, acclaimed author Matthew Hart takes you on an unforgettable journey around the world and through history to tell the extraordinary story of how gold became the world’s most precious commodity. Beginning with a page-turning dispatch from the inferno of the world’s deepest mine and an account of the plague of thieves that preys on the industry, Hart pulls back to survey gold’s tempestuous past. From the earliest civilizations, 6,000 years ago, when gold was an icon of sacred and kingly power, Hart tracks its evolution, through conquest, murder, and international mayhem, through the sudden emergence of China as the top producer, into the speculative casino chip that the metal has become. Hart describes each boom and bust in gold’s long story, each panic and shock, with writing described as “polished and fiery” (Publishers Weekly), weaving together history and cut-throat economics to reveal the human dramas that have driven our lust for a precious yellow metal.
Matthew Hart’s book is an account of the importance that humans have always given to gold and how it rose to become the world’s most precious commodity. It takes in history (including the defeat of the Aztecs and Inca by the conquistadors), economic history (including the abandonment of the gold standard), finance (including the development of the complicated derivative products that shape the current gold market and the effect that this has on price) and politics (including how the Chinese government revived its gold mine operations to improve its economy).
Given the wide scope of the book, it’s inevitable that Hart cannot go into great depth on every topic, but it is surprising how much information he is able to give and because he writes very clearly, it’s easy to follow – especially the complicated finance sections involving derivative products. For me the most interesting sections relate to the abandonment of the gold standard. I found these coherent with Hart explaining complex elements in easy to understand language and he slowly built up the implications for what happened and links it in to the world economic system, culminating in Nixon’s decision to decouple the dollar from gold in the early 1970s and the reasons for the same.
Hart is also good at showing the dangers of gold mining (both physical and environmental) and his account of visiting mines in South Africa and Mongolia are evocative and frightening – in fact, I would have been interested in knowing more about the environmental fall out and what the local people feel about it. Similarly, I also wanted to know more about the black economy in gold training and the lengths that people will go to do it – Hart does touch on this in several chapters and it’s interesting to know the impact on gold reserves and the price but it would have been good to hear from those who engage in it.
If I’ve got a criticism, then the book does jump around a lot between time periods, which at times was jarring most notably at the beginning where we jump from modern South Africa to 16th century South America. That said though, this was an absorbing and fascinating read and there’s plenty of material in the endnotes for those who want to find out more. I will be checking out Hart’s book on the diamond industry.
The Verdict:
Matthew Hart’s book is an account of the importance that humans have always given to gold and how it rose to become the world’s most precious commodity. It takes in history (including the defeat of the Aztecs and Inca by the conquistadors), economic history (including the abandonment of the gold standard), finance (including the development of the complicated derivative products that shape the current gold market and the effect that this has on price) and politics (including how the Chinese government revived its gold mine operations to improve its economy). Although it does jump around between time periods and inevitably can’t go into great depth on all its topics, Hart writes clearly and explains complicated ideas in an easy-to-understand way and I was particularly interested in his sections on the gold standard. All in all, it’s an absorbing and fascinating read and I will check out Hart’s book on the diamond industry.
GOLD was released in the United Kingdom on 5th December 2013. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold skyrocketed – in three years more than doubling from $800 an ounce to $1900. This massive spike drove an unprecedented global goldmining and exploration boom, much bigger than the Gold Rush of the 1800s.
In Gold, acclaimed author Matthew Hart takes you on an unforgettable journey around the world and through history to tell the extraordinary story of how gold became the world’s most precious commodity. Beginning with a page-turning dispatch from the inferno of the world’s deepest mine and an account of the plague of thieves that preys on the industry, Hart pulls back to survey gold’s tempestuous past. From the earliest civilizations, 6,000 years ago, when gold was an icon of sacred and kingly power, Hart tracks its evolution, through conquest, murder, and international mayhem, through the sudden emergence of China as the top producer, into the speculative casino chip that the metal has become. Hart describes each boom and bust in gold’s long story, each panic and shock, with writing described as “polished and fiery” (Publishers Weekly), weaving together history and cut-throat economics to reveal the human dramas that have driven our lust for a precious yellow metal.
Matthew Hart’s book is an account of the importance that humans have always given to gold and how it rose to become the world’s most precious commodity. It takes in history (including the defeat of the Aztecs and Inca by the conquistadors), economic history (including the abandonment of the gold standard), finance (including the development of the complicated derivative products that shape the current gold market and the effect that this has on price) and politics (including how the Chinese government revived its gold mine operations to improve its economy).
Given the wide scope of the book, it’s inevitable that Hart cannot go into great depth on every topic, but it is surprising how much information he is able to give and because he writes very clearly, it’s easy to follow – especially the complicated finance sections involving derivative products. For me the most interesting sections relate to the abandonment of the gold standard. I found these coherent with Hart explaining complex elements in easy to understand language and he slowly built up the implications for what happened and links it in to the world economic system, culminating in Nixon’s decision to decouple the dollar from gold in the early 1970s and the reasons for the same.
Hart is also good at showing the dangers of gold mining (both physical and environmental) and his account of visiting mines in South Africa and Mongolia are evocative and frightening – in fact, I would have been interested in knowing more about the environmental fall out and what the local people feel about it. Similarly, I also wanted to know more about the black economy in gold training and the lengths that people will go to do it – Hart does touch on this in several chapters and it’s interesting to know the impact on gold reserves and the price but it would have been good to hear from those who engage in it.
If I’ve got a criticism, then the book does jump around a lot between time periods, which at times was jarring most notably at the beginning where we jump from modern South Africa to 16th century South America. That said though, this was an absorbing and fascinating read and there’s plenty of material in the endnotes for those who want to find out more. I will be checking out Hart’s book on the diamond industry.
The Verdict:
Matthew Hart’s book is an account of the importance that humans have always given to gold and how it rose to become the world’s most precious commodity. It takes in history (including the defeat of the Aztecs and Inca by the conquistadors), economic history (including the abandonment of the gold standard), finance (including the development of the complicated derivative products that shape the current gold market and the effect that this has on price) and politics (including how the Chinese government revived its gold mine operations to improve its economy). Although it does jump around between time periods and inevitably can’t go into great depth on all its topics, Hart writes clearly and explains complicated ideas in an easy-to-understand way and I was particularly interested in his sections on the gold standard. All in all, it’s an absorbing and fascinating read and I will check out Hart’s book on the diamond industry.
GOLD was released in the United Kingdom on 5th December 2013. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.