#31 in Popular science
Stuff Matters
- 272
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- Physics World Book of the Year Award
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Our view
“Stuff Matters” is a lively, accessible tour of the materials we rarely think about, from steel and paper to glass and concrete. Mark Miodownik devotes a chapter to each of ten such substances, mixing clear science with history and odd anecdotes. Some readers come away seeing everyday objects differently, others with more questions than they started with. No scientific background is needed to enjoy it.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World is a 2014 non-fiction book by the British materials scientist Mark Miodownik. The book explores many of the common materials people encounter during their daily lives and seeks to explain the science behind them in an accessible manner. Miodownik devotes a chapter each to ten such materials, discussing their scientific qualities alongside quirky facts and anecdotes about their impacts on human history. Called "a hugely enjoyable marriage of science and art", Stuff Matters was critically and commercially successful, becoming a New York Times best seller and a winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 88 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 37% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Popular science average of 8.3. That is how 8.2 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 13 | 15% |
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 75 | 85% |
Frequently asked
How long is Stuff Matters?
It has 272 pages — shorter than 71% of the ranked books in Popular science.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Popular science — with scores between 8.2 and 8.3, closest to this book.
