Fairly short read, great subject material, presentation hit and miss.

First heard of Mark Miodownik when he hosted the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture. This is his first book, an overview of various important materials invented and utilized by us. He tries out different techniques to tell each chapters story, from a screen play (for celluloid) to paper (different types of paper are used). Each of the chapters also has a personal angle.

The science (from the atomic scale on up) is fascinating, and I would like to read a book from Mark expanding any of these topics. There just wasn't enough of it in this book for me. I want to know more about the six crystal structures of chocolate, more about aerogel, and especially more about graphene (which seems to be Mark's favorite material).

Recommended, and I can't wait to see what Mark does next.