Bought ages ago, this has been sat on the shelf tempting me all year. Well worth the wait, it’s a quite extraordinary journey into some of the core materials that power the modern world – sand, salt, iron, oil, copper, and lithium. Author and journalist Ed Conway starts at each’s source and then tells the truly fantastic tale of how they are converted from their raw origins into the various outputs that underpin modern humanity.
It’s a brilliant subject for a book – there are so many incredible facts and processes behind every use of each material. The pages are bursting with stats that my wife didn’t know she needed to hear.
Sand is a great example. He explains the nuances of the different types of sand, each found in very specific places, that then enable vastly different use cases. So from concrete that is essential to construction, to glass that obviously enables not only windows but also optical imaging lens and optical fibre, all the way to the silicon chips that power the 21st century. A vast array of critical infrastructure from such a humble raw material.
The book is written in an easy, flowing style, with Ed’s arresting first-hand experiences breathing life his subject.
