Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
*An Economist, Financial Times, Times and New Statesman Book of the Year*
Shortlisted for the FT Business Book of the Year Award and the British Academy Book Prize, Longlisted for the Wainwright Conservation Writing Prize

'Compelling' TIM MARSHALL
'Lively, rich and exciting' PETER FRANKOPAN
'Vitally important' TIM HARFORD

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Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. They built our world, and they will transform our future.

They took us from the Dark Ages to the present day. They power our computers and phones, build our homes and offices, and create life-saving medicines. But most of us take these six crucial materials completely for granted.

In Material World, Ed Conway travels the globe to uncover a secret world we rarely see. As we wrestle with climate change, energy crises and the threat of new global conflict, Conway shows why these substances matter more than ever before, and how the hidden battle to control them will shape our geopolitical future.

Ed Conway is a writer and broadcaster. He is the Economics and Data Editor of Sky News and a regular columnist for The Times and Sunday Times. He has written two critically acclaimed and bestselling books and has won numerous awards for his journalism. He lives in London.

An eye-opening celebration of human ingenuity -- Andrew Hill ― Financial Times, Best Books of 2023 - Business

Lively, rich and exciting ... full of surprises. Underlines that to understand global geopolitics, you need to understand natural resources and geology -- Peter Frankopan, author of THE SILK ROADS

Fascinating . . . A revelation ― The Times, Best Science and Environment Books of 2023

A compelling narrative of the human story -- Tim Marshall, author of PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY

Brilliant -- Martin Wolf ― Financial Times - Best Summer Books of 2023: Economics

Fascinating, fun, and vitally important. A wonderful exploration of the world we've built yet somehow manage to ignore -- Tim Harford, bestselling author of HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD ADD UP

Revealing and empowering ― New Statesman, Best Summer Books of 2023

Expansive, erudite, and edifying. A stunning insight into the materials that shaped our history and built the modern world -- Prof. Lewis Dartnell, author of 'BEING HUMAN: How our Biology shaped World History'

[An] enlightening account... he throws new light on how the world works... Not a sentence jars in Material World ― The Times

A vivid guide to the “material world” on which we all, often unconsciously, rely – and essential background reading to understand securonomics -- Rachel Reeves ― New Statesman, Books of the Year 2023

'[Conway's] book deconstructs the modern world for us to see inside ... As we fret and argue about how to tackle climate change, economic development and geopolitical tensions, this book is a timely reminder of our reliance on physical stuff, and offers a challenging, practical perspective on these debates ... Enlightening ― Bloomberg

Goes straight on the 'must-read' list ... Conway is one of the most adroit commentators on economics and business of our time ― City AM

A stunning book that will transform the way you think about economics and life. Brilliantly written -- Matthew Syed, author of REBEL IDEAS

[A] masterful exploration of the materials that underpin civilisation . . . The biography of an element or material is now a familiar format . . . but what distinguishes Material World is his access . . . This is not a remote, academic analysis: he has been to the salt mines beneath the North Sea, the mineral railway of the Atacama Desert, the Chilean town being swallowed by the world's demand for copper -- Will Dunn ― New Statesman

Endlessly fascinating -- Adrian Chiles