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The Substance of Civilization Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon, by Stephen L. Sass
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The story of human civilization can be read most deeply in the materials we have found or created, used or abused. They have dictated how we build, eat, communicate, wage war, create art, travel, and worship. Some, such as stone, iron, and bronze, lend their names to the ages. Others, such as gold, silver, and diamond, contributed to the rise and fall of great empires. How would history have unfolded without glass, paper, steel, cement, or gunpowder?
The impulse to master the properties of our material world and to invent new substances has remained unchanged from the dawn of time; it has guided and shaped the course of history. Sass shows us how substances and civilizations have evolved together. In antiquity, iron was considered more precious than gold. The celluloid used in movie film had its origins in the search for a substitute for ivory billiard balls. The same clay used in the pottery of antiquity has its uses in today’s computer chips.
Moving from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon, from the days of prehistoric survival to the cutting edge of nanotechnology, this fascinating and accessible book connects the worlds of minerals and molecules to the sweep of human history, and shows what materials will dominate the century ahead.
- Sales Rank: #713433 in Books
- Published on: 2011
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.25" h x 5.60" w x 5.50" l, .75 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 328 pages
From Scientific American
Although the author and his publisher committed the unforgivable sin of omitting an index, The Substance of Civilization indeed contains much of substance and is a good starting place to develop an appreciation for the history and nature of materials science.
From Booklist
The word civilization brings images of the pyramids of Egypt, Greek temples, or great libraries and museums to mind, monumental structures that not only reflect idealized social order but offer evidence to support Sass' claim that "materials guided the course of history." None of these awe-inspiring constructions or their contents would have been possible without the ingenious manipulation of raw materials. The symbiotic relationship between the shape of culture and the evolution of technology is acknowledged in terms such as the Bronze Age, and Sass, a professor at Cornell University and a writer of both affability and precision, bridges the divide between history and science as he explains the unique properties of such key substances as clay, iron, glass, polymers, and silicon, and how they have affected every aspect of civilization from warfare to religion, politics, education, art, and economics. Noting the direct correlation between the complexity of any given society and the sophistication of the materials it uses, Sass provides diverse and illuminating examples with unflagging and infectious enthusiasm. Donna Seaman
From Kirkus Reviews
Remember when you learned about the Stone Age, followed by Bronze and Iron? Well, it didn't exactly stop there, and Sass, a Cornell materials-science professor, is our guide to all the successive wonders of luck, pluck, and technology that have enabled us to move from cave days to today's steel-polyethylene-and-silicon world. Moving chronologically, with some time out to explain what makes metal metal or introduce notions like yield strength, plastic deformation, and dislocations, Sass treats the reader to a materials-science course for the layperson, laced with lots of didja-knows: Did you know that smelting copper often meant releasing toxic arsenic gas, which is probably why Hephaestus in the Iliad is described as lame? That ``carat'' comes from the Greek keration, for locust-pod tree, because the dried pod nearly always weighed 200 milligrams (now the standard)? In short, there are gobs of wonderful trivia as well as accounts of the technological innovations that led to ever hotter furnaces, blown glass, steel from iron, and all the latter-day wonders, from synthetic rubber, celluloid, and rayon to aluminum alloys, Kevlar, plastics, silicon chips, and composites. How each of these material discoveries and inventions affected society is an important subtextbut the point of view is largely apolitical. (The reader will infer that building bigger and better arms, however, has clearly been a strong motivating force for material invention.) Sass is not always successful in getting the reader over technological hurdles; there are pages of photos (unseen), but the text could surely use diagrams as well. What he doesand does wellis convey the richness of the material world and the ingenuity of humankind in making use of it. -- Copyright �1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Most helpful customer reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
What a terrific book!
By W. Lockard
Wow. I found this book more interesting than any other I've read in the last couple of years. It's a great introduction to an interesting field on which few people ever focus.
I'm a recovering English major who studied very little science in school but have been reading more science as an adult. But, of course, I've been limited by my lack of the technical background most science writing demands. This book (while it certainly doesn't ignore the science) does a reasonably good job of conveying the substance of the scientific principles involved in the field in a non-technical way (though I'll admit to some moments of saying "well, I THINK I understand what that meant.")
But what I really enjoyed is the way in which the author conveyed some of the historical and economic importance of materials science -- raising issues such as why the Romans didn't have steel or how a misunderstanding of the structure of aluminum had a direct impact upon the economy of post-WWII England. After finishing the book, I feel I have a new way of looking at the man-made world and an appreciation of its complexity that I'd missed before.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Fascinating reading for anyone
By Daniel Bilar
Good historical overview of materials,interspersed with just enough scientific writing to keep the scientifically inclined layman interested. This book is a fascinating account of how civilization discovered and in turn was shaped by the most prosaic of things: The underlying, physical building blocks (I especially loved the discussion of the genesis of steel and its effects). I read it three times and bought two copies to give away as presents
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
History is an alloy....
By Jerry Guild
"History is an alloy of all the materials that we have invented or discovered,manipulated,used,and abused,and each has its tale to tell." These are the words of the author,a professor of material sciences at Cornell University.He is obviously in love with the subject he teaches.He reminds me of one of my Chemistry professors who was in the lab on a Saturday afternoon when a student happened to come by,and said;"Do you have to work on Saturday's?" He replied;"Son this isn't work,it's my hobby." Reading this book,one gets the feeling you are just having a friendly discussion with him about the subject that is his work,interest,fascination,and most of all what his love resolves around.Just the opposite of a Librarian I was having a social chat with one day.I asked what she liked to read;and the reply stunned me."I really don't like to read much;I get too much of it at work every day".
Sass is a very good writer,particularly considering his profession.I don't say this as a slur;but generally good ,interesting writing is not the strong point of technical people.Carl Sagan is a great exception to this,and it shows Sass loves materials like Sagan loved the universe.Although I am an engineer,took courses in materials;I never heard them talked about like this.
Sass shows how materials have influenced civilizations from the Stone Age to the present time and will continue to do so for the future.Not only that,but there will be materials invented at an astonishing rate,even more so than the last half century.Just imagine the things that have become commonplace in that time and how much their existance is dependent on space age materials.Dreams are the ideas behind inventions;but materials are what makes them happen.
I read a lot of history,and particularly of warfare.I always believed that the one with the best weapon always wins the war.Now,after this excellent book,I have come to believe that the best weapon entails having the best materials to build them with.A great read.
See all 25 customer reviews...
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