SLSC00-17 Stephen L Sass - The Substance of Civilization.nfo
General Information
===================
Title: The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon
Author: Stephen L Sass
Read By: John Haag
Copyright: 1998
Audiobook Copyright: 2013
Genre: Non-Fiction - History - Science
Publisher: Audible
Abridged: No
Original Media Information
==========================
Media: Digital
Length each: Chapterized - lossless
Source: Audible Enhanced
File Information
================
Number of MP3s: 17
Total Duration: 8:53:19
Total MP3 Size: 244.77
Parity Archive: No
Ripped By: 3j
Ripped With: Sound Taxi
Encoded With: LAME
Encoded At: CBR 64 kbit/s 22050 Hz Mono
Normalize: None
Noise Reduction: None
ID3 Tags: Set, v1.1, v2.3
Book Description
================
Audible Editor Reviews
The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age: there's a reason epochs
were named after these substances. Their use powered the rise (and fall)
of civilizations - as it turns out, substances are at the very core
of human history. The typically unacknowledged story of substances and
their power to shape the destiny of nations is engagingly told in Cornell
professor of materials science and engineering Stephen L. Sass' The
Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History From the Stone
Age to the Age of Silicon. Performed personably by voice actor John
Haag, this audiobook combines academic knowledge with skilled storytelling
to produce a highly entertaining look at the science of materials.
Publisher's Summary
The story of human civilization can be read most deeply in the materials
we have found or created, used or abused. They have dictated how we
build, eat, communicate, wage war, create art, travel, and worship.
Some, such as stone, iron, and bronze, lend their names to the ages.
Others, such as gold, silver, and diamond, contributed to the rise and
fall of great empires. How would history have unfolded without glass,
paper, steel, cement, or gunpowder?
The impulse to master the properties of our material world and to invent
new substances has remained unchanged from the dawn of time; it has
guided and shaped the course of history. Sass shows us how substances
and civilizations have evolved together. In antiquity, iron was considered
more precious than gold. The celluloid used in movie film had its origins
in the search for a substitute for ivory billiard balls. The same clay
Moving from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon, from the days of prehistoric
survival to the cutting edge of nanotechnology, this fascinating and
accessible book connects the worlds of minerals and molecules to the
sweep of human history, and shows what materials will dominate the century
ahead.
|
|