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Author:

Conway, Ed, 1979- author.

Title:

Material world : the six raw materials that shape modern civilization / Ed Conway.

Edition:

First United States edition.

Publisher:

Alfred A. Knopf,

Copyright Date:

2023

Description:

viii, 500 pages ; 25 cm

Notes:

"This is a Borzoi book." -- title page verso. Includes bibliographical references (pages 461-470) and index.

Contents:

Sand. Homo faber ; Built upon sand ; The longest journey -- Salt. Salt routes ; Salt of the Earth ; The fire drug ; Postscript: many salts -- Iron. You don't have a country ; Inside the volcano ; The last blast -- Copper. The next greatest thing ; The hole ; The deep -- Oil. The elephant ; Pipes ; The everything thing ; Postscript: peak oil -- Lithium. White gold ; Jelly rolls ; Unmanufacturing.

Summary:

"The story of civilization from an entirely new vantage point-the six raw materials that have shaped and will continue to shape humanity's destiny. Sand, iron, salt, oil, copper and lithium: The struggle for these fundamental materials has created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and our greed for thousands of years. It is a story that is far from finished. Though we are told we now live in a weightless world of information, we dug more stuff out of the earth in 2017 than in all of human history before 1950. And it's getting exponentially worse. To make one bar of gold, we now have to dig 5,000 tons of earth. For every ton of fossil fuels, we extract six tons of other materials-from sand to stone to wood to metal. Even as we pare back our consumption of fossil fuels we continue to redouble our consumption of everything else. Why? Because these ingredients are the basis for everything. They power our phones and electric cars, build our homes and offices, enable the printing of our books, and supply our packaging. Our modern world would not exist without them, and the hidden battle to control them will shape our future. This is an epic journey across continents, cultures and epochs that captures the astonishing extent to which humanity's prosperity is intertwined with what we extract from the earth and adapt to our needs and desires. It is a story of our past and future, from the ground up"-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

0593534344
9780593534342

OCLC:

(OCoLC)1370218640

LCCN:

2023011293

Locations:

TCPG826 -- Bettendorf Public Library Information Center (Bettendorf)

KSPG296 -- Burlington Public Library (Burlington)

UQAX771 -- Des Moines Area Community College Library - Ankeny (Carroll)

SAPG074 -- Cedar Falls Public Library (Cedar Falls)

XXPH787 -- Council Bluffs Public Library (Council Bluffs)

YUPD232 -- DeWitt Community Library (De Witt)

VXPE964 -- Decorah Public Library (Decorah)

SCPC074 -- Hudson Public Library (Hudson)

CAPH522 -- Iowa City Public Library (Iowa City)

GOPG641 -- Marshalltown Public Library (Marshalltown)

UJPE911 -- Norwalk Easter Public Library (Norwalk)

LAPH975 -- Sioux City Public Library (Sioux City)

GDPF771 -- Urbandale Public Library (Urbandale)

CIPB482 -- Victor Public Library (Victor)

SFPH074 -- Waterloo Public Library (Waterloo)