I don’t have what I would describe as a scientific
mind; frankly it was never one of my favorite subjects, so I came away with
just enough knowledge to make me dangerous. What I do bring to the table is a
high level of curiosity and the desire to dig deeper and learn more about the
things that interest me.
It is from that perspective that I approached the book Stuff Matters – Exploring the Marvelous
Materials that Shape our Man-Made World, from author Mark Miodownik. When I
learned that Miodownik was a university professor by trade, I had an increased
level of trepidation about what I would be confronted with in the pages of Stuff Matters; would it be some bone dry
dissertation full of formulas and scientific blather?
What I got, what Miodownik delivers, is and an easily
accessible, clever slice of a times down right funny detail about how stuff
gets made! Miodownik avoids periodic table wonkiness and actually sounds like
he enjoys what he’s spelling out. It’s easy to sense his own level of curiosity
in the pages of Stuff Matters.
Miodownik doesn’t bog you down in information overload,
he gives you a solid primer in the form of easily digestible segments; if you
feel the need to know more he gives you a solid jumping off point. The book is
broken down so you don’t need to read it in order to comprehend what is going
on; that jumpable content allows the reader to dive into what interests them
most first. That’s great, but take from me you’ll want to tackle the whole
thing. Makes a great read to hand off to your kids or any kid who loves to ask
the question why?
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