In the bestselling tradition of Stuff Matters and The Disappearing Spoon a clever and engaging look at materials, the innovations they made possible, and how these technologies changed us. Finalist for the 41st Los Angeles Times Book Award in Science and Technology...
A "timely, informative, and fascinating" study of 8 inventions--and how they shaped our world--with "totally compelling" insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction) ...