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

Mark Miodownik

Start date: April 1, 2016

Finish date: April 30, 2016

Discussion: Book Club 2016

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Book Club 2016

* December 2016 - Wizards, Aliens
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* November 2016 - Neurotribes
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What Members Thought

Dec 04, 2020 Petra X rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020-read, 2020-100-reviews, medicine-science, reviewed, getting-a-bit-personal-here

There were many interesting materials described in the book. The most fascinating by far was Aerogel But the most immediately interesting was chocolate. I hadn't realised it was such a technical marvel. Chocolate was a nasty, fatty, gritty bitter drink for the Incas (view spoiler) but through technology has now been transformed into the almost orgasmic pleasure it is today.

When the author was young he would have to bathe after his two older brothers, s ...more

199 likes · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2016 David Rubenstein rated it really liked it

Shelves: chemistry, audiobook, science, engineering

This is an entertaining, engaging book about many of the everyday--and rare--materials that are in our world. Some of the materials occur naturally like diamond and coal. But the majority of materials discussed in the book are man-made, and Mlodownik makes them all sound fascinating! He describes steel, plastic, chocolate, glass, ceramics, silicon chips, graphene, elastic, graphite, paper, concrete, silverware and porcelain. And even though most of these materials seem so mundane, Miodownik has ...more

33 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2015 Mary rated it liked it

Shelves: science

Materials science is not something I thought I would ever find interesting, but reading this book about the fascinating properties of glass, concrete, and graphite expanded my awareness of the complexity of materials that we take for granted. Reading this you learn about new developments in joint replacement and prosthetic limbs. Also information about the hardest substances on earth and the lightest and best insulating ones.
Written for the lay person, the author's engaging style leaves you wan ...more

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Nov 19, 2018 Bel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a fantastic pop-science book! Miodownik devotes each chapter to a material central to our manmade world. There is plenty of discussion of space ages materials from carbon nanotubes to aerogels to the most recent developments in bionics, but the most interest for me was in the everyday: steel, concrete, porcelain. Miodownik often deals with the history of the material, which provides wonderful illustration of just how special the development of the material was, whether through design or This is a fantastic pop-science book! Miodownik devotes each chapter to a material central to our manmade world. There is plenty of discussion of space ages materials from carbon nanotubes to aerogels to the most recent developments in bionics, but the most interest for me was in the everyday: steel, concrete, porcelain. Miodownik often deals with the history of the material, which provides wonderful illustration of just how special the development of the material was, whether through design or blind chance, and how lucky we can feel about the serendipitous combinations of properties that enabled development of so much new technology and culture.

There's plenty of science here, simply explained, but the culture is important: this is how Miodownik gives real life to his descriptions of dislocations, matrices, oxidation and so on. He not only discusses the useful applications of new materials and the new opportunities they open up, but the ways they affect our society. He ties the development of plastic up with the drive from a billiards company to find a replacement for ivory in billiards balls, and notes that, thanks to the invention of stainless steel, we are one of the first generations not to have to taste our cutlery. He points out that reinforced concrete was so unlikely to work that it took a gardener to invent it.

An example of the fantastic nuggets in this book: development of mass-production methods for glass made it cheap enough to drink beer out of, which led to a sudden interest in improving beer's dark murky appearance, which led to the invention of lager. Nearly as importantly, interest in glass allows the development of lenses, which allows exploration of the microscopic and astronomical realms, and the author speculates this was a necessary (if not sufficient) condition for the scientific revolution in Europe, which did not happen in otherwise advanced China because they had never developed a glass-making tradition.

Miodownik also focuses on the human aspects of production: how the empirical nature of steel production meant that skills were handed down as trade secrets, such that certain metallurgical traditions - in Toledo, in Japan - produced inimitably superior specimens for generations. On the other hand, he speculates that the ability to produce concrete was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire precisely because there was no such tradition of craftsmanship around it.

Stuff Matters was given to me by a friend who is an academic researcher in materials science, and I have to confess I have never been a fan of materials science. I always loved the precision of explanation in organic chemistry, in quantum mechanics, even in the complex world of biochemistry. Materials, since it often deals with bulk properties, always felt a bit empirical for my taste. Now, after reading my friend's gift, I finally understand what she finds so fascinating. ...more

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Jun 09, 2014 Rod rated it really liked it

Generally very insightful and well-written survey of materials science of common substances, from concrete to chocolate. Last third drags a bit as the author strays from straightforward reporting, and the last chapter on "synthesis" doesn't really work. Otherwise, a good, short, informative read. ...more

1 like · Like · see review