Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium — these foundational materials are literally what the modern world is built on. Without sand for glass, say goodbye to our fiber optic internet. No copper means no conductive wiring. And a world without lithium is a world without rechargeable batteries. For the final installment of Hitting the Books for 2023, we're bringing you an excerpt from the fantastic Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway. A finalist for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year award, Material World walks readers through the seismic impacts these six substances have had on human civilization throughout history, using a masterful mix of narrative storytelling and clear-eyed technical explanation. In the excerpt below, Conway discusses how the lithium ion battery technology that is currently powering the EV revolution came into existence. Thanks very much for reading Hitting the Books this year, we'll be back with more of the best excerpts from new and upcoming technology titles in post-CES January, 2024! Penguin Random House Excerpted from Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway. Published by Knopf. Copyright © 2023 by Ed Conway. All rights reserved. A Better Battery The first engineer to use lithium in a battery was none other than Thomas Edison. Having mastered the manufacture of concrete by focusing religiously on improving the recipe and... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-12-24 15:30:10 UTC ]
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Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium — these foundational materials are literally what the modern world is built on. Without sand for glass, say goodbye to our fiber optic internet. No copper means no conductive wiring. And a world without lithium is a world without rechargeable... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-12-24 15:30:10 UTC ]
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Between CEO Elon Musk's often erratic antics, strident competition from existing industry titans, and a public that is still not fully sold on the idea of traveling via electrical charge, Tesla's road to prominence has not been a smooth one. But facing a federal investigation into its driver... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-08-21 15:00:52 UTC ]
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The author, known for her “Persepolis” series, is releasing a new illustrated book about the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-04-18 14:44:18 UTC ]
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Despite the hype, publishing is still looking at what impact large language models and similar technology may bring. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-12-15 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Iranian-French author of 'Persepolis,' which celebrates its 20th anniversary with a new edition, discusses her shift from comics to film, the banning of books in America, and her pride in Iran's young revolutionaries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Michael Chabon—the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Wonder Boys, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union—spent his Covid quarantine taking a trip…through time! Well, not literally, but in an emotional and curatorial sense, the speculative fiction maestro... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-04 16:04:28 UTC ]
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Watching the new TV adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese on Disney+, I feel like one of the Chinese immortals in the show who emerges from his den in the basement of a dim sum restaurant: it is as if several lifetimes have passed since I first experienced this... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-15 08:53:31 UTC ]
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Kenan Orhan’s debut, I Am My Country, feels like much more than just a book of imaginative short stories set in and around the author’s ancestral homeland of Turkey. The powerful collection could be said to comprise a series of real “small rebellions” — enacted by its characters, prose, and the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-06-13 11:01:00 UTC ]
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In a cultural milieu that is increasingly recognizing the value of narratives that describe the experience of chronic pain and illness, Emily Wells’ memoir is a unique contribution. In some ways, A Matter of Appearance is not a memoir at all, though that’s where you’ll find it shelved in... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-06-06 11:05:00 UTC ]
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The central thesis of Andreas Malm’s manifesto How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire is that peaceful protests have proven themselves ineffective in stopping the widespread annihilation of the earth and its inhabitants by climate change. The book, published by Verso... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-07 08:53:26 UTC ]
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"Birds fly South for the winter and North for the summer," has historically proven to be only slightly less reliable a maxim than the sun always rising in the East and setting in the West. Humanity has been fascinated by the comings and goings of our avian neighbors for millennia, but the why's... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-04-02 14:30:53 UTC ]
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There’s nothing spookier or more haunting than the soaring sounds of a theremin, an instrument that uses electromagnetic fields to produce various pitches when you move your hands around it. You’ve probably heard one in your favorite science fiction flick. It’s one of my favorite... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-02-24 17:00:00 UTC ]
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Disney researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that seemingly makes it far easier to make an actor appear younger or older in a scene. While artists will still be able to make manual adjustments to make sure the effect looks as realistic as possible, the AI tool could take... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-12-01 15:45:09 UTC ]
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It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, out next year, will argue the world needs to ‘recognise that economic rights are human rights’Former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is to publish a book outlining “a vision of what would be possible if the political revolution took place”.It’s OK to Be... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-17 14:00:36 UTC ]
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Historian and critic Elvis Mitchell talks about his revealing Netflix documentary that focuses on an often forgotten eraI’m worried about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The original, released to great fanfare in 2018, was such a hit across the board – with critics, at the box office, as a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-10-29 06:17:49 UTC ]
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General Motors has been in business for more than a century, but in its 112 years, the company has never faced such challenges as it does in today's rapidly electrifying and automating industry. The assembly line jobs from Detroit's heyday have been replaced by legions of automated industrial... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-10-23 14:30:06 UTC ]
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A six-book erotica series, launched by the hosts of the 'Bonkers Romance' podcast, has shattered its initial funding goals, raising roughly 35 times what its creators initially hoped, with weeks still to go in its campaign. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A candidate for Massachusetts's Secretary of State is traveling to public libraries to secretly video their Pride displays. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-09 14:14:42 UTC ]
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Have teenagers taken control of publishing? With some authors notching up a billion views, we look at how TikTok is electrifying the world of books – creating bestsellers, reviving classics and rescuing neglected genresIt’s four o’clock on a sunny Saturday afternoon and the Krispy Kreme doughnut... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-08 05:00:14 UTC ]
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The audiobook has made the move to center stage in a digital publishing world, writes ‘PW’ audio correspondent Shannon Maughan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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