Material World

Material World is my book of 2024 and more – a decade at least. An impassioned riposte to the idea that we live in a post-industrial world, it illuminates our current essential technologies and points the way to a transformed future. Focusing on just six materials: sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium, Conway reveals the deep historical roots and present-day reach of these materials in startling ways. Salt, for instance, is not only more than a condiment and road de-icer, it has been, through taxation, a major element of government power – excessive taxation being a major factor in… show more.

Ed Conway examines six materials in the new economy; sand (for concrete), salt (fertiliser), iron (and steel), copper (electrical wires), oil and lithium. He crosses the world to many mines and quarries, as well as the high-tech factories that need what they produce, to drive home an awkward truth. We still live in a material world and rely on drilling machines and explosives to feed it. He shows the scale of the environmental problem and the irony of new demand created by efforts to wean ourselves off oil and onto batteries. Meanwhile, without copper and fibre optics, “there would be… show more.