We like to think we live in a weightless, digital age of apps, clouds and data. Ed Conway, economics editor at Sky News, argues the opposite: modern life rests on a vast and largely invisible physical world, and we have barely noticed it.
He builds the book around six materials: sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. He travels to mines, quarries, refineries and factories across the globe to show how each one shaped human history and still underpins everything from the glass in our windows to the chips in our phones and the batteries meant to power a greener future. Along the way he reveals the extraordinary journeys behind everyday objects and the uncomfortable truth that we are digging up more of the earth than ever before.
Part history, part travelogue and part economics, "Material World" is surprising, accessible and full of "I never knew that" moments. It should spark plenty of discussion about globalisation, the energy transition, and what we really mean by progress
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