He includes a photograph of himself sitting at a table in his roof garden in London in front of a glass building, with a ceramic teacup, Converse sneakers, and a book. Using history, chemistry, psychology, and storytelling, the author weaves an intricate tale about simple objects. This event instigated a curiosity in Miodownik, who has spent the majority of his life obsessed with understanding the materials that surround us. The author explains that his own quest to learn about materials came from an incident during which a stranger slashed through five layers of his clothing with a razor blade that was not much larger than a postage stamp, resulting in a massive scar down his back. Metals, for example, are composed of crystals, which allow them to be bent.

Though they are seen as solid, they actually have fluid interiors.

Miodownik begins by informing the reader that the materials we encounter every day have inner lives.

An enthralling meditation on why materials look and behave the way they do, Stuff Matters will allow us to see our stuff in an entirely new way. From glass to elastic and from concrete to paper, Miodownik takes an up-close look at everyday things we hardly notice, revealing the engineering marvels that permeate our lives. Mark Miodownik’s 2013 book Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World follows the author on a journey of discovery as he studies ordinary objects to uncover fascinating secrets about the materials that hold our physical world together.

Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik