STUFF MATTERS: Annotation

Miodownik, M.  Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World.  London: Penguin, 2013.

This book, 272 pages in length (paperback version), provides several examples of material to illustrate the special relationship between human and civilization and material use: their discovery and the drive it took to get there, their uses, and their cultural significance. In the introduction, he points out that our civilization owes much to material wealth, so much so that different historical epochs have been named after the material that facilitated its human progress.  In each chapter devoted to a certain material, the author tries to “uncover the desire that brought it into being, decode(s) the materials science behind it, marvel(s) at our technological prowess in being able to make it, but most of all, tr(ies) to express why it matters”.   Many of the interesting stories and descriptions from this book are a good source of examples that I can use in my classes.  Each chapter is rich with anecdotes, metaphors, analogies, and interesting facts useful for engaging students' interest in the chemistry behind the simplest things we take for granted.  Material after material, chapter after chapter, the author clearly makes the point that each one has an interesting human story to tell and the adjective that the author gives as a title for each one represents his personal relationship with the material world.  The author is very well versed in the science but also has the depth and breadth of analysis to illustrate the cultural and human impact of each type of material, capturing the essence of, not just what motivates humans to explore creative and practical uses for natural materials and invent new ones, but also what these materials motivate in humans to achieve.

The author is materials scientist who received his Ph.D. in Materials Science at Oxford University.