The Substance of Civilization - Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon

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All ProductsApparelBabyBeautyBooksClassical MusicDVDDigital MusicElectronicsGourmet FoodHealth & Personal CareJewelryKitchen & HousewaresMagazinesMiscellaneousMusicMusic TracksMusical InstrumentsOffice ProductsOutdoor LivingPC HardwarePet SuppliesPhotoRestaurantsSoftwareSporting GoodsTools & HardwareToysVHSVideo (DVD & VHS)Video GamesWirelessWireless Accessories    by: Stephen L Sass See Larger Image List Price: $14.95 Amazon.com's Price: $11.96 You Save: $2.99 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $5.50 Collectible Price: $14.00 Third Party New Price: $7.10 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 620.1109 EAN: 9781559704731 ISBN: 155970473X Label: Arcade Publishing Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 304 Publication Date: August 04, 1999 Publisher: Arcade Publishing Sales Rank: 548899 Studio: Arcade Publishing Related Items: Napoleon's Buttons (pb reprint) Why Things Break: Understanding the World By the Way It Comes Apart Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction Wood: Craft, Culture, History see more Customer Reviews Average Rating: Rating: - A Great! I have read a vast quantity of books in my lifetime and believe that I have come across several great classics that fell through the cracks. This is one of them. There is hitch to this! It is parallel to the fate of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The Jungle was written to agitate social change and hit the literal stomach instead. The Substance of Civilization was written for light scientific interest and hit the survivalist instinct instead. I came across this book during the time ... Read More Rating: - History is an alloy.... "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 ... Read More Rating: - What a terrific book! 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 ... Read More Rating: - Too literary for a textbook, not clever enough for else The thesis of "The Substance of Civilization," by Stephen L. Sass, is that 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." Sass, a professor of materials science at Cornell, describes the principal difficulties, and how they were overcome, in the acquisition and manipulation of clay, copper, bronze, gold, silver, iron, glass, alloys, polymers, diamonds, composites, and silicon (coming in a sense full circle). In the ... Read More Rating: - Fascinating reading for anyone 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 Browse for similar items by category: World - History - Subjects - Books - General Science - Subjects - Books - General Technology - Science - Subjects - Books - History of Technology Geology - Earth Sciences - Science - Subjects - Books - General Earth Sciences - Professional Science - Professional & Technical - Subjects - Books - Geology

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