Stuff Matters (Miodownik)

Stuff Matters:  Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
Mark Miodownik, 2014
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780544236042


Summary
Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? Why does a paperclip bend? Why does any material look and behave the way it does?

With clarity and humor, world-leading materials scientist Mark Miodownik answers all the questions you’ve ever had about your pens, spoons, and razor blades, while also introducing a whole world full of materials you’ve never even heard of: the diamond five times the size of Earth; concrete cloth that can be molded into any shape; and graphene, the thinnest, strongest, stiffest material in existence—only a single atom thick.

Stuff Matters tells enthralling stories that explain the science and history of materials. From the teacup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, the plastic in our appliances to the elastic in our underpants, Miodownik reveals the miracles of engineering that permeate our lives. As engaging as it is incisive, Stuff Matters will make you see the materials that surround you with new eyes. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bio
• Birth—April 25, 1969
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.A., Ph. D., Oxford University
•• Currently—lives in London, England


Professor Mark Andrew Miodownik is a British materials scientist, engineer, broadcaster and writer at University College London. Previously, he was the head of the Materials Research Group at King's College London, and a co-founder of Materials Library. He recently appeared in The Times' (UK) inaugural list of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK. His book, Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World, appeared in 2014.

Miodownik attended Emanuel School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in metallurgy from St Catherine's College at the University of Oxford in 1992, and a D.Phil in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford in 1996, specifically oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys. He says that his interest in materials came from an incident when he was stabbed in the back with a razor, on his way to school. Realising that a small piece of steel had done him so much harm started his interest in materials.

Research
Miodownik's scientific research is primarily in Materials Science, Metallurgy and Biomechanics. He has also been key to the development of the concept of Sensoaesthetics, which is the "application of scientific methodology to the aesthetic, sensual and emotional side" of materials.

Science outreach
Miodownik is widely known for his broadcasting and outreach work. In 2001 he gave a series of talks at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) on aesthetics in the arts and sciences. In 2003 he co-founded the Materials Library, a website for people working in materials science, with a grant from NESTA.

In 2005 he organised two talks at Tate Modern on the influence of new materials on the arts. In 2006 he and two other scientists produced AfterImage, an installation that explores light and colour perception, which was exhibited at the Hayward Gallery. In 2007 the Materials Library made a podcast "What can the matter be?" hosted by the Tate. He appeared on Jim Al-Khalili's "The Life Scientific" in March 2014.

He was one of the judges of the 2008 Art Fund Prize. He often gives talks at the Cheltenham Science Festival, of which he is a member of the advisory group. In 2010 he placed 89 in a Times list of the 100 most influential people in science and delivered that year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. The three-part series, "Size Matters," looked at how size influences everything, including the shape of the universe, and aired on BBC Four in late December 2010.

Miodownik has done work with the Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery, and the Wellcome Collection. He has close ties to the Royal Institution of Great Britain and presented a Friday Evening Discourse in February 2013 entitled "Strange Material." His television appearances include Wonderstuff on BBC Two in August 2011, The How it Works series on BBC Four in 2012 and The Genius of Invention on BBC Two in early 2013. He also appeared as a regular guest on Dara O'Briain's Science Clubon BBC Two in late 2012. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/9/2014.)

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Book Reviews
Materials, Miodownik concludes, are so much more than "blobs of differently colored matter." They are wonders—"self-­healing concrete," a jelly that catches stars. I now know to read up on concrete, a previously unthinkable activity, and I'll never think of Tutankhamen without remembering that he was found wearing a scarab with a piece of natural glass 26 million years old that was probably forged by a meteor that struck the white sands of the Libyan desert. It's possible this science and these stories have been told elsewhere, but like the best chocolatiers, Miodownik gets the blend right
Rose George - New York Times Book Review


Superb storytelling...fascinating...a delightful book on a subject that is relatively rarely written about.
Popular Science


[A] wonderful account of the materials that have made the modern world…Miodownik writes well enough to make even concrete sparkle.
Financial Times


A deftly written, immensely enjoyable little book.
Observer (UK)


[Miodownik] makes even the most everyday seem thrilling.
Sunday Times (UK)


Enthralling...a mission to re-acquaint us with the wonders of the fabric that sustains our lives.
Guardian


(Starred review.) [H]umor 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... is orbiting a pulsar star”.... Miodownik’s infectious curiosity and explanatory gifts will inspire readers to take a closer look at the materials around them.
Publishers Weekly


University professor Miodownik accomplishes a bit of a miracle here by making a discussion of materials science not only accessible but witty as well.... At a time when science is maligned, first-rate storyteller Miodownik entertains and educates with pop-culture references [and] scholarly asides.... A delight for the curious reader. —Colleen Mondor
Booklist


A compact, intense guided tour through a handful of physical materials...revealing what makes them profoundly affect our lives.... The author writes with enthusiasm, empathy and gratitude [and] helps us understand the complexity of inner structures. Puts the wonder and strangeness back into all the truly magical stuff that comprises our everyday reality.
Kirkus Reviews

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