Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World (Audiobook)

from nbmars

The author is a material scientist who holds the position of professor of "materials and society" at University College London. His somewhat quirky title gives a hint about the contents and organization of the book: it deals not only with the incredible and unexpected properties of various man-ma...

from neurodrew

A brief exploration of materials that make up manufactured things in the world, specifically some of the items seen in the picture of the author enjoying tea on his roof-top in London. The author is a materials scientist, writes lightly and well, has many interesting facts to tell about the makin...

from prichardson

Before I picked this up I was already familiar with articles and tv programmes by Mark Midownik and enjoyed both his presenting and writing style. This book was no different bringing our everyday environment into focus by examining the materials that are all around us and of which I give very lit...

from delphica

This was really very interesting, each chapter is devoted to a different material (most common, like steel and concrete, but some obscurely high tech, like aerogel) that goes into the history of how it has been used, what's going on scientifically, like at a molecular level (it was nice understan...

from PDCRead

Almost everything we touch has had some form of human interaction to change it from one form to another. Some of these interactions are simple, involving the changing of the shape and form, others are much more complex and involve heat and chemical interaction. Using a photo of himself drinking a...