The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon

Stephen Sass studies why materials behave the way they do: why glass breaks, why metal bends, why alloys are stranger than pure substances. His research leads him to the cutting edge of research into those materials that will dominate the century to come. But in Wonderful Things, Sass takes us back into history, back to humanity's first attempts to improve life by experimenting with materials. From the Stone Age, Iron Age, and Bronze Age through the days of aluminum, polymers, and silicon, human civilization unfolds as the story of how those materials -- as well as gold, silver, paper, glass, steel, and copper -- were discovered, applied, and adapted. The properties of materials have always shaped our lives, dictating how we build, eat, communicate, wage war, create art, and worship. Millennia ago, the first crude instruments were made from clay; today, clay is the source of the silicon that runs our computers. Filled with fact after fascinating fact, this highly entertaining book connects the worlds of minerals and molecules to the sweep of human history.