These materials (concrete, glass, plastics, etc.) are ubiquitous in the modern world and possess their own chemistry and history. To “tell the story of stuff” he takes a photo of himself enjoying a cup of tea on his London rooftop, and proceeds to examine 10 of the materials in the photo. is orbiting a pulsar star' and is 'five times the size of Earth.' In his chapter on paper, he describes the book as 'a fortress for words,' while he regards chocolate as 'one of our greatest engineering creations.' Miodownik's infectious curiosity and explanatory gifts will inspire readers to take a closer look at the materials around them.Miodownik, director of the Institute of Making at University College London, writes a fascinating introduction to materials science, a discipline unfamiliar to most outside it. His humor helps highlight such facts as we are one of the first generations to not taste our cutlery, due to the properties of stainless steel, or that 'the biggest diamond yet discovered. Miodownik includes himself in his discussions so that, in the chapter on biomaterials, readers learn about his fillings as well as his disappointment that when he broke a leg as a child he didn't receive the same upgrades as the Six Million Dollar Man.

To 'tell the story of stuff' he takes a photo of himself enjoying a cup of tea on his London rooftop, and proceeds to examine 10 of the materials in the photo. Miodownik, director of the Institute of Making at University College London, writes a fascinating introduction to materials science, a discipline unfamiliar to most outside it. 'Expert, deftly written, immensely enjoyable' Observer

Miodownik writes well enough to make even concrete sparkle' Financial Times Makes even the most everyday substance seem exciting' Sunday Times The futuristic materials will elicit gasps. 'A certain sort of madness may be necessary to pull off what he has attempted here, which is a wholesale animation of the inanimate: Miodownik achieves precisely what he sets out to' The Times Stuff Matters reveals the miracles of craft, design, engineering and ingenuity that surround us every day.įrom ancient technologies to those shaping our future, this is a book to inspire amazement and delight at mankind's material creativity. The extraordinary new materials: self-healing metals, silicon chips and bionic implants paving the future.

The everyday objects: paper clips, the textiles that make your clothes and the cups you drink from. 'I stayed up all night reading this book' Oliver Sacks A mission to re-acquaint us with the wonders of the fabric that sustains our lives' Guardian * * * Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books * * *įROM THE TEA-CUP TO THE JET ENGINE, STUFF MATTERS IS A UNIQUE, INSPIRING EXPLORATION OF HUMAN CREATIVITY.

Stuff matters book