Stuff Matters

Product Description

Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik is a fantastically entertaining introduction to the strange inner life of materials by one of the The Times 100 most influential scientists in the UK & scientist in residence on Dara O Briain's Science Club. Insightful fascinating. The futuristic materials will elicit gasps. Makes even the most everyday substance seem exciting". (Sunday Times). " Expert deftly written immensely enjoyable". (Observer). " Enthralling...a mission to re-acquaint us with the wonders of the fabric that sustains our lives". (Guardian). "A certain sort of madness may be necessary to pull of what he has attempted here which is a wholesale animation of the inanimate: Miodownik achieves precisely what he sets out to". (The Times). " Wonderful. Miodownik writes well enough to make even concrete sparkle". (Financial Times). Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? How come concrete pours? Why does a paperclip bend? Why does any material look & behave the way it does? From the towering skyscrapers of our cities to the most ordinary objects in our homes Stuff Matters tells enthralling stories that explain the science & history of materials we take entirely for granted while introducing some of humankind's most ingenious & improbable inventions. From the tea-cup to the jet engine the silicon chip to the paper clip the plastic in our appliances to the elastic in our underpants world-leading materials scientist Mark Miodownik reveals the miracles of engineering & ingenuity that permeate every aspect of our lives. Along the way he introduces materials that can heal themselves implants that become living bone the explosive that made the movie business materials that might one day save the world
- & others that already have. " Utterly captivating. Every piece of 'stuff' we take for granted in our daily lives has a rich story to tell. A real delight". (Jim Al-Khalili author of Paradox). " The Master of Materials strikes again. Professor Miodownik has a gift for exciting us with his unique combination of the science & the sensuality of the stuff that the world around is made from". (Thomas Heatherwick designer of the Olympic Flame). " Written with such informed & infectious zeal.. . Stuff Matters doesn't just reveal the hidden & amazing structures behind much of what our world is made from it tells the hidden & fascinating stories too". (Quentin Cooper BBC Radio 4). " Stuff Matters has reminded me that historians can spend too much time looking at what people have said & written & not enough on the materials with which we have built modern society. I now understand why epochs in human history are defined by the stuff we have used". (Dan Snow). " An ode to material science. Miodownik delves into the molecules & history of metal paper concrete & chocolate finding poetry & beauty in the details. It's also about the ingenuity of humankind the unique ability of humans to understand the materials around us & to manipulate them". (Alice Roberts). Mark Miodownik recently appeared in The Times' inaugural list of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK. He is Professor of Materials & Society at UCL & presenter of several BBC television documentaries including How it Works & The Genius of Invention as well as appearing as scientist-in-residence on Dara O Briain's Science Club. In 2010 he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. He is Director of the UCL Institute of Making which is home to a materials library containing some of the most wondrous matter on earth & has collaborated to make interactive events with many museums such as Tate Modern the Hayward Gallery & Wellcome Collection."