The World in a Grain

May 21, 2018
What does sand—the humble stuff of beaches and dunes—have to do with the making of the contemporary world? Quite a lot, actually, says journalist Beiser. He argues that sand, with its extraordinary range of properties, including durability and pliancy, is “the most important solid substance on earth... that makes modern life possible.” Sand is the key ingredient in concrete buildings and highways; in the form of glass, it is “the thing that lets us see everything” through windows, microscope lenses, eyeglasses, and smartphone screens. But due to the explosion in its uses and the increasing number and size of cities, sand is running out: the book is at its urgent best in chapters on the black market in sand and the sand mafias that brutally exercise control over resources in places like Raipur Khadar, a farming village south of New Delhi, whose ecosystem has been plundered by the demand for sand. The flip side of the story of modern life is, of course, the story of ecological devastation: Beiser moves from the denuded beaches of St. Vincent, in the Caribbean, to the replanted deserts of Inner Mongolia, showing the true cost of the “sand wars.” Breezily written and with insights on every page, this is an eye-opening look at a resource too often taken for granted. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, ICM.

June 1, 2018
A fresh history of "the most important solid substance on Earth, the literal foundation of modern civilization."Books on a single, familiar topic (salt, cod, etc.) have an eager audience, and readers will find this an entirely satisfying addition to the genre. In his first book, journalist Beiser, whose work has appeared in Wired, Mother Jones, and elsewhere, has done his homework, and he delivers often surprising information about sand's role from low tech to high (construction, glass, electronics) without neglecting the painful consequences of its skyrocketing production over the past century, which has made it a source of serious environmental damage. Next to air and water, humans use more sand (largely silica, silicon dioxide) than any material, mostly to make concrete for buildings and roads. Desert sand isn't suitable, writes the author, so "riverbeds and beaches around the world are being stripped bare of their precious grains. Farmlands and forests are being torn up. And people are being imprisoned, tortured, and murdered. All over sand." Of course, it takes sand to make glass, which was not cheap until after 1900, when machines put an army of glassmakers out of work, and bottles and picture windows became routine consumer products. Far less--but far more purified--sand becomes silicon chips and similar high-tech essentials. Beiser devotes the second half of the book to the process of moving sand from place to place. The iconic beaches we take for granted are often artificial creations, eroding steadily, supporting a massive, multibillion-dollar, government-subsidized industry to truck in sand. An area the size of Connecticut has been reclaimed from the sea for airports, homes, or luxury resorts by vacuuming sand from the sea bottom or importing it, often illegally, from the beaches and land of poor countries.A successful if disturbing argument that there is more to sand than meets the eye.

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June 15, 2018

Journalist Beiser presents a fascinating take on the importance of sand, perhaps the most common material on Earth that possesses the unique ability to transform the world in myriad ways. Sand is the key ingredient in the concrete buildings we live and work in, the asphalt roads we drive on, and the mobile phones on which we rely. Specifically, Beiser argues that the rise of the U.S. automobile was facilitated by the growth of its road system, of which sand is a major component. Our dependence on cars is now a worldwide phenomenon, and new roads are being built continually with this natural resource. Unfortunately, the most useful sand comes from environmentally sensitive areas, and the scarcity of a suitable composition has become so dire that criminal organizations worldwide steal the mineral, often putting lives at risk in their pursuit. Another troubling effect is the extremely harmful carbon footprint that transporting sand incurs; Beiser demonstrates how Middle Eastern countries import sand from as far afield as Australia. VERDICT Beiser is a diligent researcher, and his sources and interviews build a strong case in this entirely absorbing if troubling read to argue that the many grains of sand, often associated with abundance, are in fact, finite.--Brian Renvall, Mesalands Community Coll., Tucumcari, NM

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
When we're lounging on a sunny beach in Hawaii or Florida, sipping a margarita and texting a friend back home, few of us realize that the sand beneath our feet is as important for our mobile devices and the hotels standing behind us as it is for our tropical vacation. In fact, sand is the third most consumable substance on this earth, behind air and water. Without it, as veteran science writer Beiser reports in this fascinating if sometimes unsettling volume, our civilization would not even exist in its current form. Sand, comprised mostly of naturally ground quartz, when mixed with cement supplies a full 70-percent of the ingredients in concrete, which forms most of our buildings and roads. Along with describing sand's critical role in the manufacturing of glass and silicon chips, Beiser also tracks the complicated process of sand mining and exposes its little seen dark side, including widespread landscape destruction, species endangerment, and even a sand mafia in India. A vital addition to every library collection's coverage of resource exploitation and environmental issues.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)