Book Review: "The Substance of Civilisation" by Stephen L. Sass

There are many different substances throughout history that make up the way in which we have lived our lives. Stephen L. Sass goes through the materials which sought to make us humans and shape our meaning with it. From the clay era in which we are shown that even though we are known to use clay, we have no idea what kind of accident brought it about all the way through to the 'silicon' age - the author makes it clear that throughout history we all have one thing in common: we wanted to revolutionise our materials for production. We have always wanted to create something to make our lives easier - and that's what we have been doing since the dawn of humanity.

The author blends historical research with science as he analyses the way in which though we don't have documentation for the earliest humans' discovery of materials, we can have a roundabout guess as to how it was done. Due to the fact that modern humans often find out about new materials etc. by accident (e.g: whilst researching other things), we can only assume that this was the way clay and such was created. He suggests that even the mother of children cooking a meal could have accidentally discovered the material. This makes me think about the various accidents throughout history that could've led us here - a very Cloud Atlas situation in which we all add to the human experience in some way, no matter how little we contribute.

I think we are all aware of the things that happen once we hit the Bronze Age, but still - the writer takes us on a historical journey through the research and the science around the use of this strange and wonderful metal. It was once used to make practically everything, not to mention weapons for war. In my opinion, one of the most famous feats of the use of Bronze in the Bronze Age came in the midst of it. We don't even know how or whether the Trojan War happened (it could've been the fact that writers had embellished the facts of a real war, adding gods and monsters into the mix). But if time is correct then this is somewhere in the Bronze Age and I would have paid to see some of that weaponry - especially the (very clearly fictitious) shield of Achilles described in The Iliad. I've gone completely off topic, I apologise.

I loved reading the chapter on gold and silver in which the author makes a point of how gold and silver were not really initially loved for how rare they were but rather for how lovely they looked and how malleable they were. People devised many strange ways to extract gold and because it didn't react with air like iron did (rusting and turning blackened), it could be made to wear by the rich. The author then goes through the story of Midas and how he learnt about the way that there could in fact, be too much of a good thing.

As we move through the book, we see the history of steel and iron, we get a good look into the productivity of the industrial revolution and how Thomas Edison would steal things from batteries to make filaments for light bulbs. There is a clear timeline being produced from each major material and yet, I have one little complaint. My complaint is this: if you are first going to state that your book blends history and science, please do not use the Bible as a historical checkpoint for ancient times. There seems to be far too much Biblical stuff in this book for my liking, it can feel a bit preachy.

All in all, I did enjoy the more factual parts of this book. The ideas behind the French and the British getting underway with scientific research, the movements into America and all of this expansion was probably the best part. That was definitely getting into the latter sections of the book. But I cannot ignore how sometimes, the book can be preachy and overdo it with the Biblical references a bit. It just feels a bit too on the nose.