From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

Mark Miodownik

Start date: May 1, 2023

Finish date: May 31, 2023

Discussion: Book Club 2023

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Book Club 2023

December 2023 - Ultra Processed People
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last updated Mar 12, 2024 06:37AM

November 2023 - Secret Network of Nature
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last updated Nov 27, 2023 04:10PM

What Members Thought

Dec 09, 2020 Petra X rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020-read, 2020-100-reviews, medicine-science, reviewed

This book, to me, wasn't in the same class as Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World which I read, got really excited about an ordered this one. I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy it as much, it could be that I didn't really find any of the liquids as fascinating as I did the materials, specifically concrete (my new obsession) and chocolate (my constant obsession) and aerogel. It could be that I found the structure of this book a bit cutesy. It was set around This book, to me, wasn't in the same class as Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World which I read, got really excited about an ordered this one. I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy it as much, it could be that I didn't really find any of the liquids as fascinating as I did the materials, specifically concrete (my new obsession) and chocolate (my constant obsession) and aerogel. It could be that I found the structure of this book a bit cutesy. It was set around an airplane flight to San Francisco, and all the liquids involved from kerosene to the molten rock that the tectonic plates under San Francisco float on. The ending was worthy of a let's-tie-up-all-the-loose-ends novel, rather than a pop science book.

But that could all just be me, others who don't find concrete any more fascinating than water, or chocolate than making a cup of tea, might 5 star it. But it's 4 stars from me.
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Notes on reading Everybody (normal) is revolted when bodily liquids escape their proper place. Mucus belongs in the lungs and is disgusting when it's coughed up green and yellow. Saliva is fine in the mouth, but disgusting when it's drooling down the chin, stomach acid belongs in the tummy, half-chewed food, saliva and bile vomited up is beyond disgusting, poo and pee belong in the toilet, not squished underfoot, blood is supposed to stay invisble under the skin or absorbed by a Tampax, not running down the thighs. There are two major exceptions to this.

Tears. Seeing someone crying makes people sympathetic, want to put an arm around the crying person and comfort them. (view spoiler) The other is sex. Deep kissing, tongue licking, a mingling of saliva is lovely, erotic and passionate. A revulsion to the liquids of sex wouldn't have boded well for human reproduction. being as it is a messy process full of viscous liquids that are part of the enjoyment.

I'd never really thought of that before reading it. He has an odd mind, this author, always highlighting something perfectly obvious you've never given a thought to.
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I hope this is as fascinating as Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World. He really caught me on concrete and chocolate. So far the best thing I've learned is that oil lamps were the most advanced technology in home lighting for thousands of years. The oil was hard to prepare - 100 olives for 1 hour of lamp-burning, smoked or had a dangerously low flash point - or all three. Then came whale oil which was perfect in every way except that it meant killing off the whales, over half a million it is estimated. When kerosene (still used today as primary home lighting in areas of many countries including my island during the 6 month power outtage after hurricane Irma) was invented it saved the whales.

The technology of wicks was interesting. The oil, or melted wax by osmosis and surface tension actually climbs the wick and is not ignited until the top, the flame does not travel downwards. It makes for a safer form of lighting that just holding a match to a pool of oil. I wonder what they did before matches? Carried a flint I suppose. ...more

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Jul 21, 2025 Eric Bingham rated it really liked it

Have you ever considered how complex ink is? Neither had I, until I read this book. Now ever time I use a pen I will be thinking to myself, "isn't it amazing that humans were able to invent something that is a liquid until it touches your paper, then almost instantly becomes a solid..." This was a fascinating book in which material scientist, Miodownik, explains in depth each of the liquids he encounters on his plane ride across the ocean. My favorite chapters were the one on Kerosene, the one o ...more

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Dec 29, 2020 David Schwan rated it really liked it

The author discusses an airplane flight from the UK to San Francisco. He touches upon the properties and characteristics of a variety of liquids, telling us about the science behind them. A good follow on from his first book "Matter Rules". ...more

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