Book Review - Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik

I enjoy nonfiction books that help me better understand my world around me as long as they do it in an interesting and informed way and are written by someone with firsthand experience and/or knowledge of the subject.

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik is an overview of common (and a few uncommon) materials in our world. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and as one of those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Stuff Chosen. The author chose a lot of really interesting, everyday materials that I have personal experience with such as stainless steal, graphite, diamonds, porcelain, paper, and concrete. This made it much more meaningful. And the exotic materials he brought up were linked to familiar ones, and he explained how these new materials could affect my future life.

Stuff Described. The author did an excellent job describing the history, development, and make up of the materials as well as their uses, limitations, and other aspects. I was really fascinated, never got lost, and never felt like he was leaving important information out.

The Bad

Narration. The narration wasn't bad, but it was a little dry and academic. I'm sure this provides an air of sophistication and authority, but it does make the material less interesting than it needs to be.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the author had included more stuff.

Overall

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik is a fascinating look at the materials that we interact with everyday such as graphite, paper, concrete, plastic, and so much more. The history, development, uses, and possible future are all covered in sufficient detail that I was informed, interested, and never confused or felt talked down to. The exotic materials the author brings up are linked to existing materials with practical future applications, so they seemed appropriate. The narration was a little dry and academic, but I'm sure that was purposeful to make this book sound authoritative. I give this book a solid 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

    

Book Review - Capital Gaines The Smart Things I've Learned by Doing Stupid Stuff by Chip Gaines

Half the books I read I buy because they are on sale at Audible and look good. Most of the time they are titles I've never heard of by authors I know nothing about. This is one such book.
Capital Gaines The Smart Things I've Learned by Doing Stupid Stuff is an autobiography of Chip Gaines, one of the hosts of Fixer Upper and co-owner of Magnolia. It is available as an eBook, Audiobook, and as one of those paper things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

Story. Chip has a really interesting story, and he's honest about the good and the bad.

Message. Chip has a lot of good advice and shares a lot of important life lessons he learned. I also appreciated how he wasn't afraid to share his faith but didn't force it down the reader's throat.

Positive Attitude. Chip faces a lot of ups and downs, and through it all he somehow maintains a pretty positive attitude that is reassuring and inspiring.

The Bad

Writing. This book feels like Chip came over to your house to talk as a friend. It feels very unpolished and rambles quite a bit repeating the same thing over and over using different words. That's probably the authentic tone he was going for, but it took away a bit from the pleasure of reading.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish the author had been more succinct and trusting of his reader to get what he meant the first time he said it instead of repeating it four or five times using different words.

Overall

Capital Gaines The Smart Things I've Learned by Doing Stupid Stuff by Chip Gaines tells the story of his life from his earliest ventures into running his own business and meeting his wife to his current hit TV show and rapidly growing retail business. The author is very honest about the good, the bad, the smart, and the dumb and has no qualms about sharing any of it. His positive attitude is very inspiring, but his writing feels rough and unpolished with a lot of rambling and redundancy. I give this book a solid 4 out of 5 eReaders.