Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World

2014年英国皇家学会科学图书奖。

Amazon 2014年度科学类选书。

《物理世界》2014年推荐科普书。

《纽约时报》2014年值得阅读的一百本书之一。

★一部材料科学的颂歌，以高超的故事写作手法，引导你步入材料学的神奇世界，探究身边10种寻常之物背后激动人心的故事。

★首次将材料的科学知识和它们给人的感官感受组合在一起，勾起人无限的好奇心，并从中发现诗意和美。

Author：Mark Miodownik 

Paperback: 272 pages

Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (March 17, 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0544483944

ISBN-13: 9780544483941

Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8 inches

Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces 

内容简介

New York Times Bestseller • New York Times Notable Book 2014 • Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books

“A thrilling account of the modern material world.” —Wall Street Journal

"Miodownik, a materials scientist, explains the history and science behind things such as paper, glass, chocolate, and concrete with an infectious enthusiasm." —Scientific American

从茶杯、喷气发动机到家用电器、内裤，我们的生活充满了材料。但你想过没有，为什么玻璃是透明的？是什么让橡皮筋有弹性？为什么曲别针会弯曲？为什么不锈钢不生锈？为什么某一种材料做成的东西会长那样？

材料学大师带你用材料科学家的眼睛，以全新的方式看待你身边的每一样东西：钢、纸、混凝土、巧克力、塑料、玻璃、瓷器……

本书以渊博的知识和极富感染力的文字写就。它不仅揭露了各种物质背后的神奇结构，还告诉我们隐藏在背后的精采故事。每一章介绍一种材料，辅以照片和手绘图，极富可读性和趣味性。

Why is glass see-through? What makes elastic stretchy? Why does any material look and behave the way it does? These are the sorts of questions that renowned materials scientist Mark Miodownik constantly asks himself. Miodownik studies objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world. In Stuff Matters, Miodownik explores the materials he encounters in a typical morning, from the steel in his razor to the foam in his sneakers. Full of enthralling tales of the miracles of engineering that permeate our lives, Stuff Matters will make you see stuff in a whole new way.

"Stuff Matters is about hidden wonders, the astonishing properties of materials we think boring, banal, and unworthy of attention...It's possible this science and these stories have been told elsewhere, but like the best chocolatiers, Miodownik gets the blend right." —New York Times Book Review

作者简介

马克·米奥多尼克：伦敦大学学院材料科学教授，英国皇家工程学会会士，入选《泰晤士报》「英国百大影响力科学家」。 他乐于为大众讲解材料科学，且广受欢迎，曾担任多部纪录片的主持人，包括英国国家广播公司第二台（BBC2）制作的《发明的天才》。 2010年，他获邀在科普界颇负盛名的英国皇家科学院圣诞讲座进行演讲。

他也是伦敦大学学院制成研究中心主任，这个中心有一座材料馆，收藏了地球上神奇的一些物质，并和多所博物馆共同推出互动节目，合作伙伴包括泰特现代美术馆（Tate Modern），黑沃德画廊（Hayward Gallery）和威康收藏馆（Wellcome Collection）等。

MARK MIODOWNIK is Professor of Materials and Society at University College London. He is the Director of the Institute of Making, which is home to a materials library containing some of the most wondrous matter on earth.

Review

“Stuff Matters is about hidden wonders, the astonishing properties of materials we think boring, banal and unworthy of attention...It’s possible this science and these stories have been told elsewhere, but like the best chocolatiers, Miodownik gets the blend right." —The New York Times Book Review

"[Ordinary objects] have found their poet in Mark Miodownik...A thrilling account of the modern material world...Though I blush to recall it, once I had the impression that materials science was dull and pedestrian. Stuff Matters has changed my mind; now I find myself running my fingers along things and sighing. Mr. Miodownik's lively, eloquent book changes the way one looks at the world." —Wall Street Journal

"Midownik dives into every detail...[with] joyous curiosity." —Entertainment Weekly

"Miodownik, a materials scientist, explains the history and science behind things such as paper, glass, chocolate and concrete with an infectious enthusiasm." —Scientific American

"Materials scientist Miodownik intertwines humorous vignettes of daily life in London with subatomic behavior to explain the feats of engineering that brought us samurai swords, skyscrapers, pool balls and even chocolate. From concrete in Roman architecture to atom-thick graphene, Miodownik builds on a historical framework to give readers an idea of future applications. Clever in every sense of the word, Stuff Matters may leave you looking at windows rather than through them." —Discover

"Stuff Matters makes the seemingly banal objects of our everyday lives into an endless source of wonder, dreams and possibility." —Salon

"Superb storytelling...fascinating...a delightful book on a subject that is relatively rarely written about." —Popular Science

"Entertaining and informative...[Stuff Matters] delivers on both the scientific and personal levels. Its anecdotes, inviting prose and unusual chapter titles introduce both the author and his field of research, materials science." —Dallas Morning News

"I stayed up all night reading this book. Miodownik writes with such knowledge, such enthusiasm, such a palpable love for his subject." —Oliver Sacks, author of Hallucinations

"Concrete, chocolate, paper, porcelain; this is a fascinating and informative account of the ‘stuff’ of our everyday lives." —Penny Le Couteur, coauthor of Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History

"It is a rare thing for a true scientist to be able to explain how things work so clearly to the layperson—and even rarer to do so in such an entertaining fashion. No one who reads this book will look at the world quite the same again." —Kate Ascher, author of The Works, The Heights, and The Way to Go

"[A] wonderful account of the materials that have made the modern world…Miodownik writes well enough to make even concrete sparkle." —Financial Times

"A deftly written, immensely enjoyable little book." —Observer (UK)

"[Miodownik] makes even the most everyday seem thrilling." —The Sunday Times (UK)

"Enthralling... a mission to re-acquaint us with the wonders of the fabric that sustains our lives." —Guardian (UK)

"Entertaining...These materials make fascinating reading." —Materials Today (UK)

"A great look at the science and stories behind the seemingly mundane substances that make up almost everything." —Physics Central