Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris

Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris by Christopher Kemp (Hardback, 2012)

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See terms - opens in a new window or tab. Back to home page. If he had infused any of this with a sense of humor or personality, the whole book might have worked. The book left me wondering--how would I edit this book if it were my own? So, perhaps I would have rearranged these notes into subject-oriented chapters, such as one on the origin, one on its use in perfume, one on whalers finding it That way, perhaps his subject could have shone more on its own.

What is ambergris? Sperm whales cannot digest the beaks mouths of squids, and these accumulate in their stomachs, triggering the slow layering of squid beaks with concrete like faeces to create a hard ball that whale waste can pass. Once secreted, it can float for years on ocean currents before finally washing ashore. Ambergris is incredibly valuable and What is ambergris?

Download Floating Gold : A Natural (And Unnatural) History Of Ambergris

Ambergris is incredibly valuable and is used as a fixative in the perfume industry although was also used in the recipes of the rich many hundreds of years ago. Review I've always been fascinated and intrigued by ambergris, both how it is formed and why it is so highly valued. After reading Floating Gold by Christopher Kemp, all my questions have been answered, and I have a new-found respect for this substance and the whales that produce it. Kemp has a natural and engaging writing style, mixing his personal search for ambergris with all manner of information sprinkled in between.

Despite the non-fiction topic, I was never distracted or bored reading Floating Gold. In fact, the ending made me exclaim out loud, and was probably the BEST ending in a non-fiction book I've read in years! I'm not going to spoil it for anybody wanting to check it out though. There's also a lot to enjoy for Kiwi readers too, as much takes place in New Zealand and Stewart Island.

Floating Gold is full of interesting tidbits, including that Elizabeth I was more than partial to ambergris, her cooks including it in quail dishes. I recall one of my favourite segments was when Kemp mentioned: " Floating Gold is full of amazing and incredible information, and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring this secretive and widely unknown world.

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Oct 25, Dave Johnson rated it liked it. So this has literally taken over a year to read. It's also a perfume ingredient with almost mythical renown. First, this book is really informative on the subject. If you want to know anything at all about ambergris, this is really the penultimate guide on the subject.

Kemp writes it partially as a scientist, partially historian, partially novelist, and partially an autobiographer. So there So this has literally taken over a year to read. So there's a lot going on, and it sounds like it might be a strange mix, but it usually works. The history and science of it are pretty obvious, and he does do a good job at unraveling it in bits and pieces so as to not overwhelm the reader.

The autobiographical aspect was probably one of the best parts. It is presented as the author's quest to find ambergris on his own. Because it's so rare, you find yourself really rooting for the guy to find some washed up on the shore. The biggest part of the book that doesn't fit as well is the novelist side.

While he is narrating his journey, he tries to use language that sounds more akin to a novel than a non-fiction.

At first I thought nothing of it, but after a while, I realized that it's not that good, and he goes off on too many description details. At times I honestly thought that I had heard enough about the details of the coastline of New Zealand. Details are fine--when they're important. But I soon learned when I could just skim or skip of the material and get to the parts that really mattered.

And that brings me to my biggest criticism. It seems like there needed to be a larger edit of this book. And I was mostly correct. There were a couple of new things, but most of the rest of the book seemed like filler. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I learned a LOT about ambergris that I had never known, and I took notes fervently throughout the book. I'm grateful for all Kemps work here. But it could have just used some more tweaks.

Dec 11, Georgene rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. Ambergris is a highly sought after whale by-product which has had many uses over the centuries and perhaps over millenniums. It has been used for incense, added to medicines, tobacco and eaten.

It's most usefulness is currently that as an additive to perfumes to bond with other ingredients in perfumes to make them last longer on the skin. It has been found on beaches all over the world, but since the decimation of the world's whale population, it has become increasingly rarer.

It is formed in the Ambergris is a highly sought after whale by-product which has had many uses over the centuries and perhaps over millenniums. It is formed in the fourth stomach of Sperm whales. It can sit in there for years before the whale either expels it or causes the whale's stomach to explode because the ambergris can become so large that it can no longer be expelled. Poor whale!! But the best ambergris is formed after being expelled from the whale hopefully not resulting in the death of the whale.

The ambergris will float for decades in the ocean while a lot of chemical changes take place. The best is gray or white. It can be brown, yellowish, black, striated, etc.

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