--- product_id: 16126847 title: "The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)" price: "121.47 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/16126847-the-anthropology-of-turquoise-reflections-on-desert-sea-stone-sky store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (Pulitzer Prize Finalist) **Price:** 121.47 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (Pulitzer Prize Finalist) - **How much does it cost?** 121.47 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/16126847-the-anthropology-of-turquoise-reflections-on-desert-sea-stone-sky) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description In this invigorating mix of natural history and adventure, artist-naturalist Ellen Meloy uses turquoise—the color and the gem—to probe deeper into our profound human attachment to landscape. From the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Bahamas to her home ground on the high plateaus and deep canyons of the Southwest, we journey with Meloy through vistas of both great beauty and great desecration. Her keen vision makes us look anew at ancestral mountains, turquoise seas, and even motel swimming pools. She introduces us to Navajo “velvet grandmothers” whose attire and aesthetics absorb the vivid palette of their homeland, as well as to Persians who consider turquoise the life-saving equivalent of a bullet-proof vest. Throughout, Meloy invites us to appreciate along with her the endless surprises in all of life and celebrates the seduction to be found in our visual surroundings. Review: Transcendent - Suffice to say, her writing is so sublime, so poetic, funny and inspirational, Ellen Meloy has simply ruined my desire to read anybody else. Review: Pager turner? --> No. Page savorer --> YES!! - This book moved me deeply - many times, at surprising moments, and about a dizzying array of topics. It's impossible to breeze through this book. One desertcart reviewer described it as "lyrical"; another "like poetry." I'd agree with both - "prose-etry" if that's a word? While reading this book, MANY MANY times, I had to stop after a paragraph, catch my breath, re-read it - then put the book down altogether because the passages were so insightful, thought-provoking, and beautiful. About crossing the Mojave: "the heat and aridity can kill you, and if they do not, you might die from the intimidating despair evoked by a vast emptiness that is wholly indifferent to your existence." About wearing heirloom pearl necklace: "...I wear the pearls with sun-bleached cotton shirts on strolls to visit cliffrose in bloom, renewing their luster with my skin, remembering a stalwart lineage of pearl-wearers, their necks bearing strands of perfectly matched spheres on every occasion that mattered in their lives, from college graduation to tea dances for the war effort and weddings in dresses the color of gardenias...." Ellen Meloy doesn't just SEE color, she FEELS it; it provokes emotional connections - as does the contrast of one color against another - and she's able to describe it in a way that made me feel like I'm listening to someone talk about visiting another dimension. It also made me wonder, "I see color, why have I missed all that?" That's why we have writers. She has an uncanny ability to weave poetry with prose, her own intense connection with color, cultural observations, and humankind's connection to the planet into a sentence that stopped me in my tracks. Scores of times - literally. Her life's experience includes the desert, rafting, and a sojourn to the Caribbean and her learning about family history intertwined with slavery. As I was reading this book, I kept thinking, "I have GOT to meet this woman. And I have GOT to own something she has painted with her own hands." Alas, in doing research about an hour after I finished the book (and I'm a procrastinator!), I was deeply saddened to learn that she is no longer with us. I'd put this book in my top 10, and would recommend it to anyone. It would be great for a book club - but I'd recommend more than one session to discuss it! Get a copy, find a quiet spot, pour yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine, and savor each page. Prepare to "read, rinse, repeat" - because you won't be able to breeze through this book. You won't want to - you'll want to savor every page. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #125,259 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #68 in Ecotourism Travel Guides #191 in Nature Writing & Essays #314 in Cultural Anthropology (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 222 Reviews | ## Images ![The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky (Pulitzer Prize Finalist) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71McK6qt4+L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Transcendent *by M***N on July 8, 2026* Suffice to say, her writing is so sublime, so poetic, funny and inspirational, Ellen Meloy has simply ruined my desire to read anybody else. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pager turner? --> No. Page savorer --> YES!! *by D***A on May 16, 2010* This book moved me deeply - many times, at surprising moments, and about a dizzying array of topics. It's impossible to breeze through this book. One Amazon reviewer described it as "lyrical"; another "like poetry." I'd agree with both - "prose-etry" if that's a word? While reading this book, MANY MANY times, I had to stop after a paragraph, catch my breath, re-read it - then put the book down altogether because the passages were so insightful, thought-provoking, and beautiful. About crossing the Mojave: "the heat and aridity can kill you, and if they do not, you might die from the intimidating despair evoked by a vast emptiness that is wholly indifferent to your existence." About wearing heirloom pearl necklace: "...I wear the pearls with sun-bleached cotton shirts on strolls to visit cliffrose in bloom, renewing their luster with my skin, remembering a stalwart lineage of pearl-wearers, their necks bearing strands of perfectly matched spheres on every occasion that mattered in their lives, from college graduation to tea dances for the war effort and weddings in dresses the color of gardenias...." Ellen Meloy doesn't just SEE color, she FEELS it; it provokes emotional connections - as does the contrast of one color against another - and she's able to describe it in a way that made me feel like I'm listening to someone talk about visiting another dimension. It also made me wonder, "I see color, why have I missed all that?" That's why we have writers. She has an uncanny ability to weave poetry with prose, her own intense connection with color, cultural observations, and humankind's connection to the planet into a sentence that stopped me in my tracks. Scores of times - literally. Her life's experience includes the desert, rafting, and a sojourn to the Caribbean and her learning about family history intertwined with slavery. As I was reading this book, I kept thinking, "I have GOT to meet this woman. And I have GOT to own something she has painted with her own hands." Alas, in doing research about an hour after I finished the book (and I'm a procrastinator!), I was deeply saddened to learn that she is no longer with us. I'd put this book in my top 10, and would recommend it to anyone. It would be great for a book club - but I'd recommend more than one session to discuss it! Get a copy, find a quiet spot, pour yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine, and savor each page. Prepare to "read, rinse, repeat" - because you won't be able to breeze through this book. You won't want to - you'll want to savor every page. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ At times almost poetical *by C***S on May 24, 2009* I stumbled on this book during one of those periods in which I become overwhelmed by an urge to go and sit in the desert. Such feelings come to me from time to time. Unfortunately this wasn't practical at the time so I sought to satisfy my longing vicariously. Hence my browsing Amazon and my discovery of this book. Prior to that time I had never heard of the author or her book. It's difficult to categorize this book. The best that I can do is describe it. It is a collection of essays in which the author muses about various geologies, mostly the southwest, her feelings about the outdoors and her relationship with color. But there are many, many digressions including such subjects as her personal history and the social/political nature of Utah. For the most part I found these digressions enjoyable. Like others have commented I found many passages in which her prose is almost poetical. There are sentences, paragraphs and whole pages that one is tempted to read out loud to anyone who would care to listen. But there are also times that the flights of fancy become a little bit too personal, a little bit too abstruse. It is for this reason that I give it only four stars. Having said that I would still recommend this book. It is best read when one is in a quiet frame of mind, with no expectation of plot or narrative. As such it fulfilled my desire to go and sit in the desert without leaving home. And I came to appreciate the author's approach to life, her love of nature, her love of being alone and her sometimes irreverent habit of contrasting the lyricism of the desert with the more humorous and profane aspects of life. Doing so only helps one appreciate to totality of life. At times I found myself wondering why anyone would feel compelled to write such a book. I'm sure the author would reply that a writer writes because she has to. Writing is an indispensable part of the author's life. A life that the reader comes to share. Perhaps this is why, when I discovered half way through the book that the author had died unexpectedly in 2004 at the age of 58, that I felt a pain inside. I'll probably read another book by Ellen Meloy. Hopefully while sitting on a mesa somewhere. With no expectations. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/16126847-the-anthropology-of-turquoise-reflections-on-desert-sea-stone-sky](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/16126847-the-anthropology-of-turquoise-reflections-on-desert-sea-stone-sky) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-09-25*