Liquid Rules

October 1, 2018
In this informative, casual narrative, Miodownik (Stuff Matters), a science professor at University College London, gives a guided tour of the strange, wondrous liquids that flow through everyday life. He compresses myriad science lessons into one transatlantic flight on the theory that “there is no better way to illustrate the power and delight we gain from controlling liquids than by taking a look at those involved in the flight of an airplane and the experience of the passengers onboard.” From beverage cart and lavatory to sky and tarmac, he finds stories waiting in every conceivable corner. Tea, for instance, started its existence as an assortment of “shoots on a seemingly unremarkable evergreen shrub” which modern-day humans’ ancestors didn’t notice for millennia. Wine is a vessel for the “dissolved ethanol you’re about to consume.” Overhead air conditioning exists thanks to “some of the most dangerous liquids on the planet.” Even the humble ink needed to fill out a customs form is a marvel, because flowing and solidifying in the right order, and consistently and fast, “is much trickier than it looks.” This popular science work straightforwardly and clearly explains “the mysterious properties of liquids and how we have come to rely on them” in a novel, engaging manner.

December 15, 2018
Miodownik (Materials and Society/Univ. College London; Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World, 2014) follows up his prizewinning debut with an equally focused tour of liquids, "the alter ego of dependable solid stuff."Liquids, writes the author in his loquacious introduction, are "anarchic" and "have a knack for destroying things." When not properly contained, "they are always on the move, seeping, corroding, dripping and escaping our control." To shape his meditation on liquids, Miodownik presents something of a contained laboratory by setting his entire thesis within the bounds of his nonstop flight from London to San Francisco. (He does make some digressions and asides along the way.) The author begins with the explosive properties of his airplane's fuel before moving on to the intoxicating properties of the plane's cocktail offerings and an account of his near-death experience in the frigid waters of a popular swimming hole in Dublin. Frightened fliers may take comfort from the chapter titled "Sticky," in which Miodownik explores the nigh-unbreakable resins that hold many of the plane's parts together. "Fantastic" is a bit of a stretch for the chapter that examines the liquid crystals that enable the author to watch Spider-Man, with a detour to ponder The Picture of Dorian Gray. The chapters on body fluids, tea, and soap are mostly by-the-numbers, but the author's enthusiasm and wry humor even make these relatively banal substances entertaining. His stories and semilectures are also punctuated by illustrations, photographs, and some of the molecular formulas of the liquids he analyzes. We even get a few history lessons--e.g., how chemist Thomas Midgley poisoned himself by accident in inventing the freon liquid that would later prove so handy in air conditioners; and the odd tale of László Biro, told via Miodownik's need of a pen. The author closes with a chapter on liquids and sustainability.Another cleverly told and engagingly accessible study of the stuff around us.

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Miodownik writes an engaging companion to his previous book, Stuff Matters, painting a picture of our relationship with liquids ("a form of matter in which molecules swim around") via a narrative cleverly structured around a transatlantic flight. The volume includes many hands-on examples, not surprising coming from the director of the Institute of Making (Univ. Coll. London). Some of these are funny as well as instructive, such as when inadvertently drooling on his seat mate while sleeping on a flight leads to a discussion of bodily fluids. The one-word chapter titles concisely describe many of the characteristics of liquids: explosive, sticky, refreshing, fantastic, and sustainable. Each chapter discusses the chemistry (with many illustrations of chemical structures), as well as the physics, biology, history, and social impact of different types of liquids, from kerosene to mucus. Along the way, Miodownik dispels common myths relating to liquids and introduces overlooked scientists such as student Alfred Nobel's professor, Ascanio Sobrero, who first synthesized nitroglycerin. VERDICT This imminently readable book straddles both science and social science and should be enjoyable to readers of high school age through adult.--Sara R. Tompson, Lawrence, KS