Just Finished Reading: Stuff Matters – The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik (FP: 2013)

How much do you think about the physical world around you? Can you spot the difference between brushed aluminium and stainless steel? Do you have any idea how stainless steel is made and why it’s so important? Did you know that not that long ago people would have tasted their cutlery along with the food they were eating? How much do you know about paper? Why is writing paper a very different beast to toilet paper? What is paper money actually made of (hint: it’s not paper). Do you have any idea where the idea for concrete came from and who thought of putting iron cables in it to make the now ubiquitous reinforced concrete? Have you heard of the recent development of concrete that ‘heals’ itself? Why does chocolate taste so nice while the plant it derives from tastes so nasty? Why does some chocolate melt in the mouth while other chocolates don’t? Why is glass see-through and how do greenhouses work? How is glass made bullet proof? What is silica aerogel and why is it one of the futures most important materials? How is it likely to tell us about the origins of our Solar System? Why was plastic invented (hint: it has to do with the decline of elephants and the popularity of a bar game) and what would the world be like without celluloid? Why was it so important to have beer in clear glass bottles and what particular drink did it allow to dominate the world? Why is it so difficult to make diamonds artificially and why don’t people wear the result on their fingers? What’s the fundamental difference between graphite, diamond and graphine? How did the invention of carbon fibre change some sporting events forever? What is the secret of porcelain manufacture and why did it take so long to discover (and so long to steal from the Chinese)? How are advances in materials science affecting human longevity and how far are we away from a real $6 million man?

These are just a few of the questions (and answers) covered in this fascinating book. I for one will never look at plain old boring concrete in the same way (more of which later!) The author reels of fascinating fact, after fascinating historical significance, after human story, after future speculation, after personal anecdote. I found myself being charmed while real science embedded itself in my brain and connections between things I had previously thought of as purely separate spring into existence. This is actually a great place to start exploring everything in the world literally from the ground up! If you’re anything like me – if such a person exists – you’ll immediately want to go out and read about (or even interact with) the fundamental building blocks of human civilisation – aka the stuff we make, how we make it and how we discovered it in the first place. I will definitely be doing more research into materials in the future and will most definitely think about objects that I use much more than before. If you ever see something closely examining a discarded drinks can or piece of broken concrete with rapt attention, say Hi, because it could just be me!