The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another

Materials scientist and science communicator Ramirez (Newton’s Football) examines the development, evolution, and social implications of eight indispensable and world-changing inventions. Organizing chapters by function—“Convey” covers Morse’s electromagnetic telegraph but also the effects of social media on our ability to converse—the author adds vignettes to frame or serve as counterpoint to linear biographical sketches of historic innovators. She also urges readers to consider how our material innovations alter us in turn. Since artificial light disrupts sleep and computer algorithms tempt us into cognitive shallows, we cannot view technological change as overwhelmingly positive, maintains Ramirez. With depth and in a tone that contrasts with Tim Harford’s broader Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy, Ramirez considers both well-known and historically overlooked inventors, and depicts them as complicated, flawed individuals, with claims supported in a highly readable annotated bibliography.