| Description |
223 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits (some color) ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Diamond -- Copper -- Bronze -- Alabaster -- Alum -- Aluminum -- Asbestos -- Amber -- Silver -- Clay -- Arsenic -- Asphalt -- Gold -- Chalk -- Coal -- Coral -- Ivory -- Slate -- Iron -- Kaolin -- Graphite -- Gypsum -- Mercury -- Potassium -- Marble -- Nacre -- Natron -- Obsidian -- Ocher -- Petroleum -- Phosphorus -- Platinum -- Lead -- Plutonium -- Pumice -- Quartz -- Radium -- Sand -- Saltpeter -- Salt -- Flint -- Steel -- Tin -- Sulfur -- Talc -- Titanium -- Uranium -- Jade -- Tungsten -- Zinc. |
| Summary |
Chaline discusses the metals, alloys, rocks, and organic minerals and gemstones that humans have used as the building blocks of civilization. Covering the economic, cultural, political and industrial history of each, he shows the effect of each on the scope and pace of human development, as well as the dangers posed by our exploitation of Earth's resources. |
| Subject |
Minerals -- History.
|
|
Minerals -- Social aspects.
|
|
Civilization.
|
| ISBN |
9781554079841 |
|
1554079845 |
|
