“Preternaturally hardened whale dung” is not the first image that comes to mind when we think of perfume, otherwise a symbol of glamour and allure. But the key ingredient that makes the sophisticated scent linger on the skin is precisely this bizarre digestive by-product—ambergris. Despite being one of the world’s most expensive substances (its value is nearly that of gold and has at times in history been triple it), ambergris is also one of the world’s least known. But with this unusual and highly alluring book, Christopher Kemp promises to change that by uncovering the unique history of ambergris.

“I was driven by the same irresistible impulses I’d had as a twelve-year-old child. I wanted, in other words, to experience something more fully and completely than anyone else. And the need to do so took me across the world, in search of ambergis.”

Christopher Kemp “Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris”. First published in 2012. This paperback edition was released in 2022 by the University of Chicago Press. Bought by me for the Sea Library 💙

Photo by Anna Iltnere / Sea Library