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

A unique and inspiring exploration of human creativity from one of the UK's best-known scientists A unique and inspiring exploration of human creativity from one of the UK's best-known scientists Everything is made of something... From the everyday objects in our homes to the most extraordinary new materials that will shape our future, Stuff Matters reveals the inner workings of the man-made world, and the miracles of craft, design, engineering and ingenuity that surround us every day. From the tea-cup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, from the ancient technologies of fabrics and ceramic to today's self-healing metals and bionic implants, this is a book to inspire amazement and delight at mankind's creativity. Mark Miodownik is Professor of Materials and Society at UCL, scientist-in-residence on Dara O Briain's Science Club (BBC2) and presenter of several documentaries, including The Genius of Invention (BBC2). In 2010, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, broadcast on BBC4. 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, and has collaborated to make interactive events with many museums, such as Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery and Wellcome Collection. In 2014 Stuff Matters won the Royal Society Winton Prize.

About the Author :
A Financial Times Master of Science and chosen by The Times as one of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK, Mark Miodownik is Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, where he is also Director of the Institute of Making. He is the author of the book Stuff Matters, a New York Times bestseller which won the Royal Society Winton Prize. Mark has also received the Michael Faraday Prize for his expertise in science communication. He presents BBC TV and Radio programmes on science and engineering such as Everyday Miracles, How It Works, Chefs vs Science, Secrets of the Super Elements and recently made a three-part BBC Radio 4 documentary called Plastic Fantastic.

Review :
Enthralling . . . A mission to re-acquaint us with the wonders of the fabric that sustains our lives A certain sort of madness may be necessary to pull off what he has attempted here, which is a wholesale animation of the inanimate: Miodownik achieves precisely what he sets out to Insightful, fascinating. The futuristic materials will elicit gasps. Makes even the most everyday substance seem exciting Expert, deftly written, immensely enjoyable Wonderful. Miodownik writes well enough to make even concrete sparkle I stayed up all night reading this book. Miodownik writes with such knowledge, such enthusiasm, such a palpable love for his subject Superb storytelling . . . fascinating . . . a delightful book on a subject that is relatively rarely written about This is a hugely enjoyable marriage of science and art