000 02124cam a2200301 a 4500
001 14219304
003 OSt
005 20140610103955.0
007 ta
008 120306s2012 xna er 000 0 eng d
020 _a9780732291914 (pbk.)
035 _a(OCoLC)781560921
035 _a(AuCNLKIN)000048865820
035 _a(OCoLC)ocn781560921
037 _b13/201 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000
040 _aANL
_beng
_cANL
_dNJB
_dHAP
042 _aanuc
082 0 4 _a333.9595
_223
100 1 _aKemp, Christopher.
_913
245 1 0 _aFloating gold /
_cChristopher Kemp.
260 _aSydney :
_bHarperCollins,
_c2012.
300 _axv, 303 p. :
_bill. ;
_c21 cm.
500 _aCover subtitle: The search for ambergris, the most elusive natural substance in the world.
520 _aJournalist and biologist Christopher Kemp discovers, after reading an odd news report, a hidden world of money, intrigue and amazing wealth. A lump of something turns up on a beach in NZ, the lump so strange it may well have come from out of space. But it's not a dead alien, it's ambergris. Ambergris is a by-product of sperm whales, used for centuries as a perfume, medicine and aphrodisiac. It appears on beaches all over the world and depending on what state it's in, can be mistaken for all manner of things. For those in the know, it's an amazing source of wealth -- ambergris trades for US$20 a gram, which is nearly as much as gold but it's harder to find and it cannot be mined. Christopher Kemp travels from the shores of NZ, to the Smithsonian and New Nedford Whaling museum; he meets amateurs, professional hunters, scientists, elusive vendors who traffic ambergris, people who won't confess to have found any, and strangers denying what they are looking for. As he discovers more about ambergris' origins, its uses present day and historic, the outrageous lengths people have gone to find it and the intriguing efforts people go to in order to keep what they know about ambergris a secret, the more his infectious obsession grows.
530 _aAlso available online.
650 0 _aAmbergris.
942 _2ddc
_cNONFIC
999 _c25793
_d25793