This book introduces materials and how advances in materials result in advances in technology and our daily lives. Each chapter covers a particular material, ho

A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at global changes that may occur over the next fifty years—whether sudden and cataclysmic world-changing events or grad

Describes the properties of different types of natural and manufactured matter, including elastic, marble, wood, silk, and gold. Materials answers fundamental q

This important book [...] is a helpful guide to thinking with things and teaching with things. Each entry challenges the reader to approach objects as historica

How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? Thes