THE GREATEST STUFF ON EARTH

A wide-angled view of matter—what it is, and some of the things we make with it.

Tomecek begins with pithy overviews of such basics as atomic structure, elements, and electricity before recapping watershed events in our planet’s history from the Big Bang to the successive appearances of rocks, water, air, dirt, and life (“The Coolest Feat”). From there, it’s on to a history of technology, with nods to a handful of crucial inventions such as cooking, clothing, paper (“The Write Stuff”), disinfectants, and modern audio equipment. When it comes to the chemistry of soap, cell biology, and some of Tomecek’s other “favorite” things (as he puts it), he takes relatively deep dives into the finer details. More often, though, he makes do with superficial once-overs—particularly in a final chapter headed “Problems With Stuff,” where he offers glib solutions to issues with microplastics, nuclear waste, and sustainability. Still, rather than pretend to offer a systematic treatise, he invites readers to dive in where they will and folds in frequent cross-references to give his arbitrary entries at least a semblance of linkage. A racially diverse cast of humans figure prominently in the mix of stock photos and cartoon diagrams and spot art.

A genial, if overly ambitious, catalog of…some stuff.