What is Matter Made of?

Miodownik, Mark.  Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous  Materials That Shape Our Man-Made  
        World.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0-544-23604-2

Writing for a general audience, Professor Miodownik shares his knowledge of materials in this readable look at the composition of materials.   He opens each of the eleven chapters with the same photograph, but labels a different material each time.  This mnemonic device provides continuity among the diverse materials such as chocolate, metals, concrete, porcelain, etc., that he chose to focus on.  He freely admits that the choices he made are arbitrary and chosen to illustrate concepts.

When reading the book, the reader is struck by the mastery Mark Miodownik has of  material science and by the joy he brings in describing our interaction with the "stuff" that makes up our world.  Stuff Matters reads quickly, one chapter being easily consumed in a sitting or the whole book over a long weekend.  Appropriate illustrations are provided within the book.  And for those readers whose appetite has been whetted for more on the topic he provides a title list for further reading.  

Anyone wanting to know about the materials that make up our world will profit and likely enjoy reading Stuff Matters.