A photograph of himself having a cup of tea on the roof of his apartment building launches his exploration of the materials that make up his surroundings: paper, concrete, chocolate and its divine transformation of state, from bitter bean to “pure dark chocolate in your mouth start to liquefy” as the cocoa butter crystals commence to wobble. What is steel, anyway? From there, he takes us through the miracle of alloys: why hammering a metal makes it stronger, why we likely wouldn’t have the pyramids without copper, what the samurai’s sword has in common with the compass’ needle. What a remarkable thing, to cut through all that winter clothing and still deliver a deep wound, he thought. Being a schoolboy at the time, Miodownik was less concerned with his survival than he was fascinated by the razor. He begins with the story of his stabbing by a panhandler with a razor knife. The author writes with enthusiasm, empathy and gratitude, making us care for concrete or foam as much as for Mr. London), and knowing something of their history, cultural influence and psychophysics (the science of our sensual interaction with them) is a gateway to understanding the world’s inner and outer complexities. Materials make up everything, including us, writes Miodownik (Materials and Society/ University Coll. " Stuff Matters is about hidden wonders, the astonishing properties of materials we think boring, banal, and unworthy of attention.It's possible this science and these stories have been told elsewhere, but like the best chocolatiers, Miodownik gets the blend right.A compact, intense guided tour through a handful of physical materials, from concrete to chocolate, revealing what makes them profoundly affect our lives. Full of enthralling tales of the miracles of engineering that permeate our lives, Stuff Matters will make you see stuff in a whole new way. In Stuff Matters, Miodownik explores the materials he encounters in a typical morning, from the steel in his razor to the foam in his sneakers. Miodownik studies objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world. Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? Why does any material look and behave the way it does? These are the sorts of questions that renowned materials scientist Mark Miodownik constantly asks himself. "Miodownik, a materials scientist, explains the history and science behind things such as paper, glass, chocolate, and concrete with an infectious enthusiasm." - Scientific American “A thrilling account of the modern material world.” - Wall Street Journal Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.
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