This book was first started in 1940, and it was finally published in 1984. In ways this collection of essays resembles the "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius. There is a certain "summing up" of his experiences, and the spectrum of topics covered is broad, from strictly scientific treatises on, for example, the geology and paleontology of the Adrar region of Mauritania, to exploration of the Libyan desert, which could only be done with mechanized vehicles, since the lack of vegetation and water precluded even camels, and the climbing of a 3000 plus meter volcano in the Sahara in January, with night time temperatures of -19 C.

His chapter epigraphs reflect his erudition that permeates this work. He quotes from Apollinaire, Teilhard de Chardin, Ecclesiastes, Pliny, Chateaubriand, Tennyson, Shakesphere, Einstein and Aldus Huxley. From the later, "War exists, because men wish it to exist." Monod had a strong pacifist streak, fasting each August 06, in honor of the dead at Hiroshima. Like the Americans who would like to replace the rather militaristic "Star's Spangled Banner" with "America the Beautiful" as our national anthem, Monod takes on "Les Marseilles," with its openly racist verse about fighting those "with impure blood" (p 45). Which explains why so many members of the French national soccer team, largely blacks and "beurs," (Arabs) stand silent before the game when the song is played. In another section he discusses issues that could tumble out of an American newspaper today, how one is permitted to criticize every element of French society, from the National Assembly, the Church, the President, et al., but criticism of the Army is never permitted (p 80) "support the troops".

As for the title, "Garamantes" was mentioned by Pliny as a remote place in the Sahara, and the "emeralds" of the Egyptian pharaohs, were simply green feldspar. Like Coronado's expedition in the American southwest, looking for those mythical cities of gold, the "emeralds" were a constant lure for foolhardy exploration. Fortunately Monod was content examining just the feldspar.

Although his entire life was a physical and intellectual journey of the first class, he wisely quotes de Chardin: "This illusion that one can approach the truth by a journey, I have lost it since a long time."

Monod is one of life's beautiful outliers, who successfully resisted a "box" in an organization chart. His "meditations" are to be savored. A 5-star book complements a 5-star life.