Primrose Kitten

Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World.

The world we live in is simply amazing. I mean, stop and think about it for a second. We have big, flat boxes that display constant videos, we have tiny pieces of trees that we use to write, we have a device that allows connecting to something invisible and suddenly be able to watch the news, videos or read this article from anywhere in our house.

And just like those things, there are way too many other things that surround us, and we use daily, but genuinely don’t know how exactly do they work, or how are they made… We don’t know too much about them.

In Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World, author Mark Miodownik takes a look at the simple, almost mundane stuff that shapes our world and makes a great effort to explain them to the core.

This book is a wild ride from start to finish. You start reading about something so mundane as a pencil, how it was done and the materials behind it. Then you end up reading about a massive planet in a galaxy far away that is entirely made of diamonds.

If you are looking for a fun, easy to read book that leaves your mouth wide open as you continue to learn more and more about things you never thought learning about, then this is the right book for you.

The way the author Mark Miodownik manages to take such standard topics and turn them around into something incredibly interesting is simply fantastic. You wouldn’t think something as simple as a paper clip could be so exciting.

This book is honestly entertaining to read about since it almost feels as if you are rediscovering a whole new world you didn’t know about. You’ll get to learn everything about nearly every little thing: How it works, how it was made, a few facts about the materials that compose them.

And when I said you’ll read about every little thing, I mean it. There is even a whole chapter about chocolate (but hey, who doesn’t like to learn about this delicious sweet?) Oh, and there’s also a chapter about why glass is see-through.

If you are planning to read this book, take your time. Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World, is a book meant to be read slowly, meant for you to enjoy it to the fullest, so go ahead, but remember to take your time!