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 ]
Profile is to republish a short story by Alice Munro, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canadian author Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize for literature. Here, her publisher and literary agency react to the news at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Merit trumped politics this year when modest, retiring, universally admired Canadian author Alice Munro received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Nobel Prize in literature in 2013 was awarded to Alice Munro, who the Nobel committee called a "master of the contemporary short story." Last year, Slate book editor Dan Kois picked her for a prize and said her "work has evolved and grown in fascinating, boundary-shattering ways." The... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Plenty of people have predictions about who will win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Care to place a bet? Ladbrokes announces its odds on which author will win. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The selection of Mo Yan as the 2012 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature surprised most Americans in and out of publishing, but one man who would not have been caught off guard is the late Dick Seaver, the cofounder of Arcade Publishing, which published five of the author’s novels. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publication Date: Thu, 06/10/2011 - 11:58 Swedish writer and poet Tomas Tranströmer has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The committee behind the decision awarded the accolade to the 80-year-old "because, through his condensed, transluscent images, he gives us fresh access to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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