STONED

Through the lens of ten pieces of jewelry, it’s Aja Raden’s narrative account of how precious jewels have shaped and transformed the world as we know it, and at the same time an accessible, pop science-tilted account of the relationship between value and perception, offering a special glimpse into that most human of emotions as a driver of behavior: desire.

Did you know that Marie Antoinette lost her head over a diamond necklace? Did you know that the argument of two sisters over a valuable in England almost 500 years ago helped draw the map of the modern Middle East? Or that a humble noodle maker’s desire to see every woman on the planet wear a string of pearls saved Japanese culture from complete oblivion, and helped catapult the tiny island into the position of global economic superpower?

In STONED: Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World, debut author Aja Raden gives a narrative account of how ten precious jewels have shaped and transformed the world as we know it. Equally an accessible, pop science-tilted account of the relationship between value and perception, STONED offers a special glimpse into that most human of emotions as a driver of behavior: desire. Aja Raden is a professional jewelry designer whose clients include Madonna, Sting, Bono, and many others.

For the past seven years, she worked as the senior designer for Los Angeles-based fine jewelry company Tacori. A graduate of the University of Chicago, where she majored in physics and history, biotech engineering is also a major interest of Aja’s, and she has contributed IP to a variety of US medical devices and programs, most recently patenting new syringe technology in 2012. Her hands-on experience in the jewelry industry—from design and production, to international gem trading, to antiquities, appraisals and historically important jewels—combined with her background in science and history, make her a uniquely credible expert for the writing of STONED.