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The Substance of Civilization Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon 1st Edition

4.2 out of 5 stars 27 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-1611454017
ISBN-10: 1611454018
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 328 pages
  • Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1 edition (2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1611454018
  • ISBN-13: 978-1611454017
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 5.6 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #827,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

By W. Lockard on July 3, 2004
Format: Hardcover
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.
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Format: Hardcover
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
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned a lot from reading it. I've always been curious about how civilizations developed and why they did, where they did. This book provides a an excellent summary of those issues, putting some life into history. The history I was taught was basically facts, dates, and names always leaving out the how and why. This book helps fill those gaps and does it in an easily readable manner. My congratulations to to the author on a fantastic piece of work that should be read by history majors.

History is taught from economic, political, religious, and secular perspectives in most cases as if the other aspects didn't exist, and yet all those factors are intertwined. This book overcomes that by treating the development of civilization as a complete entity tying all the pieces together.
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Format: Hardcover
"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.
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Format: Kindle Edition
I have a library of books on different items as salt, paper and other commodities, their origins and trading history. So I thought this book would make a great addition.

O.K. I confess I was listening to the audio sample of the book to see if I wanted to buy it. The audio might not have done justice to the book but it was enough to see that the author keeps missing the mark.

He mentions changing iron to steel. Then he mentions the Bessemer process which is to the steel industry the equivalent of the assembly line to the auto industry; this is all well and good. Then he starts talking about railroad tracks. Early wood, iron, and steel tracks did have a problem but they were not corrected because there is a Bessemer process. The correction was to use Maganal an alloy that gets stronger with stress. The same material safes are made with.

O.K. so he is trying to make a point without detail. However this is misleading.

His next foray is into silicon where he tries to equate industrial strength with pounds of sand. Oops I mean number of silicon chips which has no meaning in themselves. I am sure he meant computing power or maybe cognitive capability. However those are not materials and the book is about materials in history.

O.K. so the author is trying to make a point. However he chooses an irrelevant product or substance that is misleading.

Again the audio might not do the rest of the book justice however if he can miss the mark twice in just the introduction then how can we trust the balance?
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