Handmade by Anna Ploszajski: book review

Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making (2021) is a science book about materials. The ten materials include: glass, plastic, steel, brass, clay, sugar, wool, wood, paper, and stone.

In a readable and entertaining way, the author examines the properties of each material and the craft of making something out of them. In other words, how they came to be in human hands, and how they can be manipulated to create structures and objects. Their multiple uses are described in a fascinating manner.

For example, glass – from grains of sand to translucent, brittle, and fragile glass, the material undergoes transformation and transfiguration. It transitions from liquid to solid, and is both reflective and transparent. She adds, ‘Many materials including steel, are ductile when warm, but turn brittle when cold.’

The author writes about their progress from raw materials to creative works by scientists, engineers, and artists.

The three chapters I liked most were sugar, wool, and paper. Presented in unique ways, the author travels to engage with artisans, and even describes her adventure swimming for fifteen hours across the English Channel – and sugar was the prominent energy source.

I found the whole book interesting and compelling.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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