Ed Conway, to quote the author's introduction at the back of this book, "is an author and broadcaster. He is the Economics and Data Editor of Sky News and a regular columnist for The Times and The Sunday Times. He has written two critically acclaimed and bestselling books."
The Material World is divided into six sections, these being: Sand, Salt, Iron, Copper, Oil and Lithium. In each of these sections the author discusses how these materials are mined and their various industrial uses, both high tech and low. He also delves into the history of how these materials first came to be used, and how the acquisition or present use of these materials either contributes to or potentially alleviates climate change.
And not to bring politics into it too much, but yeah, The Material World is a very Biden-era book. Some of the author's optimism with regard to alleviating climate change and reaching certain goals hits differently during the Trump administration. Yes, the author's heart was in the right place, but some of the "solutions" posited near the end of this book seem very impractical now.
That, however, isn't my biggest problem with The Material World. My biggest problem is that it's rather boring, and often comes across as a list of semi-interesting factoids that one have just as easily found on Wikipedia. This book needed some kind of argument to bring its various strands together, and lacking that argument it's best considered as a sometimes amusing, sometimes boring detour through the industrial side of modern society.
I enjoyed the last chapter of this book, but otherwise I can't recommend it. Those already interested in modern materials science would be better served elsewhere, and those new to the topic will find easier approaches in the popular science section of any local bookstore.
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