Mark Miodownik
Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World
(Viking; 2013)
This was one of the recent crop of accessible science books which I wanted to read. From the reviews it sounded amazingly interesting. And yes, it was interesting but for me not amazingly so.
Sure, I learnt a lot. I didn’t know about how concrete works, nor about stainless steel or porcelain, and certainly not about aerogel.
But nevertheless I found the book rather unsatisfying. I’m not sure if this is Miodownik’s rather bland style or whether it is because the content is pitched too low for me. Maybe both. I could certainly have taken more technical detail, but then I guess I’m not the prime target audience. And I wanted far more in the way of explanatory diagrams.
On top of that I didn’t find the book a pleasant object. Not downright nasty but unsatisfying. There is lots of text on poor-feeling paper. The few illustrations are equally poor and all in black & white. The linking photograph, around which Miodownik hangs the text, is unintelligible because too small, lacking in contrast and in detail. I wanted better paper, better and more illustrations and diagrams, and for them to be in colour.
All of which is a shame as the book should, and could, have been so much more enjoyable and so much more memorable. The content, which in isolation is interesting, deserved better.
Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆