Material World

The Making of Civilisation

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Ed Conway: Material World (2023, Ebury Publishing)

English language

Published Aug. 2, 2023 by Ebury Publishing.

ISBN:
978-0-7535-5915-4
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(1 review)

3 editions

A high-octane tour

A high-octane tour through the materials that underlie our civilisation: sand, salt, steel, copper, oil & lithium. So many intriguing side notes that sent me off down rabbit holes (African ghost miners!). Really brings home the mammoth scale, complexity & interconnectedness of these critical industries that we take for granted. But also highlights their fragility, the environmental damage they cause, and the immense difficulty of reforming them to be sustainable.