<DIV><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>A book perfectly timed for the re-setting of the Maya calendar in 2012.... Part history, popular science, armchair travel, and real-life treasure hunt, this is the story of pre-Columbian jade—the precious stone revered by ancient Aztecs, Incans, and Maya—and the scientists, collectors, explorers and entrepreneurs who have been searching for the mythical jade mines for more than a century.</P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>“A compelling tale.... This well-focused and well-told account brings America’s most mythologized gemstone into sharp relief.”</p><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> —<I>Wall Street Journal</I></p><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>“[T]he story of the search for the long-vanished mines of the Mayas . . . [with] engaging digressions into plate tectonics, the technology of jade carving and the brutal history of the regimes of a succession of Guatemalan generals. . . . [Prospectors] Ridinger and Johnson endured earthquakes, coups, kidnapping, even civil war. But eventually they stumbled upon huge blocks of the alluring, elusive stone.”</p><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> —<I>New York Times Book Review</I></p><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>Selected as an Indie Next List “Great Read”</p><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>“The search for the sources of this mysterious rock reads like detective fiction, and involves geologists, archaeologists, entrepreneurs, poachers, and a host of other characters, but it’s all true. A wonderful read!” —Michael D. Coe, author of <I>Breaking the Maya Code</I></div>