Material World
by Ed Conway · first published 2023
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Traces how six raw materials (sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, lithium) underpin modern industry, giving readers a clear sense of how everyday things are made; suited to curious general readers who want the bigger picture.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…a whole load on top of that, so if this can make a significant dent whilst stopping some of the other environmental side effects of drilling for Nat Gas, is this not a significant step forward? * The Material World by Ed Conway is a really interesting read that explores some of these tradeoffs
on “How to Produce Green Hydrogen for $1/Kg – Terraform Industries Blog” ↗Zeiss and Schott are both owned by the Carl Zeiss foundation; the origin story is somewhat covered by Material World by Ed Conway. It's a fantastic book and well worth a read.
on “Zeiss's "Holocam" turns glass windows into cameras” ↗I'm just finishing "Material World" by Ed Conway. A great read. Check his substack for a preview : https://edconway.substack.com/
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you've read so far in 2024?” ↗If you want to learn more about this amazing process, I recommend "Material World" by Ed Conway!
on “China's chip capabilities just 3 years behind TSMC, teardown shows” ↗Ed Conway's book Material World has more about silicon. An even more obscure mine in Spain is used for the quartz to make the crucibles that hold molten silicon. For some reason its melting point is just far enough above that of silicon…
on “Essential node in global semiconductor supply chain hit by Hurricane Helene” ↗Another book on this is: _Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization_ by Ed Conway https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112974899-material-world >Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These fundamental materials…
on “Is the world really running out of sand?” ↗I'm still reading it, but the book Material World by Ed Conway has been very informative and enjoyable to read. It's a book that I've been looking for for a long time. It explores how different common natural resources are intertwined with one another…
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2024?” ↗A great book that goes deeper into the sand industry is The Material World by Ed Conway. Highly recommended!
on “Sand trafficking in Latin America” ↗I need to recommend Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway. Truly fascinated story also available on audible. For anyone interested into how "things works" generally is this a must. Happy new…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗The Material World book by Ed Conway might be worth a look. He goes into the depths of different materials used and really makes you appreciate the complexity of things more.
on “Ask HN: Do you also marvel at the complexity of everyday objects?” ↗…saltpeter for the production of fertlizer and gunpower. A partial documentation is on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltpetre_works A better narrative of this industry is in Ed Conway's book "Material World" https://edconway.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-material-worl...
on “Surnames from nicknames nobody has any more” ↗…remove to produce a gold bar? I asked my minders. They didn’t know, but they did know that in a single working day those trucks would shift rocks equivalent to the weight of the Empire State Building. ¹ Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future by Ed Conway
on “Scientists crack a 20-year nuclear mystery behind the creation of gold” ↗Author's Amazon link leads to UK. Here's a US one: https://www.amazon.com/Material-World-Substantial-Story-Futu... The value of ascsubtag and ref preserved to those of the UK one.
on “The Glass Famine” ↗…would have used it. 0. Actually this probably isn't true. It's just that all the salt used in making the the products and services we consume is hidden from us in far-away factories. Ed Conway's book Material World has a couple of chapters on salt. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt
on “Salt and salary: Were Roman soldiers paid in salt? (2017)” ↗I’m currently reading Material World by Ed Conway which also explores the topic of sand in good detail. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125937631
on “Crime rings trafficking sand” ↗