Stoned: jewelry, obsession, and how desire shapes the world

Part I: Want : desire, delusion, and the scarcity effect. Keep the change : the beads that bought Manhattan ; Precedents are forever : the first diamond engagement ring ; The color of money : the emerald parrot, and the making and unmaking of the Spanish empire

Part II: Take : obsessions, possessions, and the mechanics of war. The importance of being famous : the necklace that started the French Revolution ; Hello, sailor : how sibling rivalry and a really big pearl shaped the fate of nations ; The old shell game : the golden eggs that funded the Soviet start-up

Part III: Have : industry, innovation, and the light at the end of the tunnel. The boss's string : pearl culture, cultured pearls, and Japan's race to modernity ; Timing is everything : World War I and the first wristwatch.