Prologue | A Journey into the Material World, Transcending Humanity's Past, Present, and Future

PART 1.
Sand | Cutting-edge technology born from the oldest

· Chapter 1: The World Seen Through Glass: In Search of the Most Perfect Grain of Sand
· Chapter 2: Light and Shadow in Concrete: A World Built on Sand
Chapter 3: The Birth of the Semiconductor: The Most Amazing Journey That Shaped Modern Society

PART 2.
Salt | The Magical Substance That Changes the World

Chapter 4: The Substance of Life: Human Civilization Begins on the Salt Road
Chapter 5: The Industrialization of Salt: The Revolution in Everyday Life Unleashed by Salt
Chapter 6 Gunpowder, the Trigger of War: Salt That Kills and Saves Life
―Behind the Scenes: He who controls salt controls the world.

PART 3.
Iron | The skeleton that makes up human society

Chapter 7: The War of Steel: Without Iron, There Is No Nation
Chapter 8: Into the Furnace: Fossil Fuels and the Industrial Revolution
· Chapter 9: A World Made of Steel: Things That Disappear in the Explosion

PART 4.
Copper | The Invisible Connected World

Chapter 10: The Copper Age: From Darkness to Light, the Birth of the Power Grid
· Chapter 11 Deeper Underground: Copper Shortages and the Depletion of Natural Resources
Chapter 12: New Frontiers: The Deep Sea, Deep-Sea Mining

PART 5.
Oil | Another Paradox of the Material World

Chapter 13: The Discovery of Crude Oil: The Energy That Moves the Earth
Chapter 14: Modern Alchemy: A Look at the Future from the Refinery
· Chapter 15: Fossil Fuel Products: Accidental Discoveries in the Plastic World
Behind the Scenes: The Energy Transition Begins

PART 6.
Lithium | Resource of the Future

Chapter 16: Salt Desert: The Lithium Industry That Started with White Gold
Chapter 17: The Age of Secondary Batteries: A New Energy Chronicle from the Gigafactory
Chapter 18: A Changing World: From the Resource Curse to the Future

Epilogue | In Search of the Hidden Driving Force of Matter and Humanity
Note
References
Acknowledgements
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Sand, salt, iron, copper, petroleum, lithium
How Underground Materials Drive History Above Ground
A thrilling history of civilization, following in the footsteps of Guns, Germs, and Steel and The Power of Geography.

“A book that compellingly unravels the epic of humanity.”
—Tim Marshall, author of The Power of Geography

Ed Conway, an economics reporter for the British news channel Sky News, learned that it takes between 4 and 20 tons of ore to mine the gold used in his wedding ring at a mine he visited for reporting.
If such a huge amount of resources and materials are used to make even the small objects we use without thinking, how much of the truly important materials are made and how?

"The World of Materials" is a travelogue that explores the world and the history of human civilization as it travels to various locations around the globe in search of the six irreplaceable materials (sand, salt, iron, copper, petroleum, and lithium) that have changed the world and will shape the future.
Lithium produced in Chile's Atacama Salt Flats reaches us as secondary batteries at Gigafactory Nevada in the United States.
Sand from the UK's Localin mine becomes silicon, creating a cutting-edge future at Taiwan's TSMC semiconductor plant, where there's not a single speck of dust.


Amidst the invisible competition for resources, such as the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, wars and civil wars, what choices should we make for the future?
As you journey around the world in search of these six substances, you will gain new perspectives on the substances that create modern society and transform the future.

How did matter shape human civilization and history?
Semiconductors are born from sand, secondary batteries from lithium, and power grids from copper.
A cutting-edge world in the most primitive of places

We live in an immaterial world where intangible values ​​like knowledge and information are prioritized, and the pursuit of material values ​​like oil, iron, salt, and sand is considered outdated.
It's easy to think of modern society, centered on social media, the Internet, knowledge-based industries, and services, as well as a future society dominated by cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and robots, as a post-material world, a world free from material things.
But media and the internet cannot exist without energy and power grids, and the spaces where services are provided and means of transportation like cars and airplanes cannot be sustained without concrete, cement, fossil fuels, and batteries.
The immaterial world we live in is built on the support of the material world, which is not apparent on the surface.

The resources that make up the material world are abundantly available throughout the world.
Chile, a treasure trove of salt, copper, and lithium, and an emerging resource powerhouse; Bolivia and Argentina, which together form South America's lithium triangle; Saudi Arabia, which possesses abundant oil reserves; and Russia and Ukraine, which are treasure troves of iron ore. If you follow the footsteps of civilizations and history created through materials over a long period of time, you will encounter the light and shadows cast by materials.


In countries that adopted glassmaking technology, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution followed, and World War II was also influenced by glass and iron.
The rich mineral wealth made Britain the starting point of the Industrial Revolution.
Why are pharmaceutical and chemical companies located in salt-producing regions? This book offers a glimpse into the pivotal moments in human history that shaped the material world.
Matter is the backbone of civilization, and without it humanity cannot survive.


● Sand, salt, iron, copper, petroleum, lithium
Why six substances?

The six substances covered in this book constitute essential elements of modern society, and in most areas there are no immediate substitutes.
Almost everything that surrounds us and constitutes our environment relies on the material world.

Part 1: Sand contains cutting-edge technologies born from the oldest things.
If we trace the footsteps of humans who have formed things around materials, we will find that everything from glass, the world's oldest product, to semiconductors, the most advanced technology today, to the concrete that forms the skyscrapers of our cities, all came from sand.


Part 2, Salt, covers the history, civilization, and war that developed along the Salt Road.
Salt can save lives, but it can also be used to take lives through gunpowder.
Without salt, mass food production would be impossible, the world would starve, and the COVID-19 vaccine would not be available to us.


Part 3: Iron deals with iron and steel, which enable us to live as instrumental human beings who cooperate.
We consume 15 tons of iron in our lifetime.
From iconic structures like the Eiffel Tower and city skyscrapers to why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, we explore the journey of iron, which transformed our lives from rock to metal.


"Part 4 Copper" may seem a little distant from our lives.
But the power grid created by copper allows us to stay safe at night and live in a society that is connected to every corner of the globe.
Copper isn't just mined from the ground.
You'll experience a vivid scene where new frontiers are being defined through deep-sea mining operations.


Part 5: Oil deals with the irony of fossil fuels.
Oil, which brought efficiency from steam engines to internal combustion engines, triggered the era of global warming.
Although calls to reduce fossil fuel use are growing louder, oil and gas account for 55 percent of total energy, and humanity is still living in the age of fossil fuels.


Part 6: Lithium covers lithium, a key material in secondary batteries that is attracting attention as a new alternative energy source, and future resources.
Lithium produced in the salt flats of the Atacama Desert in Chile is turned into secondary batteries at Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada, USA.
The massive amounts of cobalt mined in Congo can also lead to tragedy.
We are once again confronted with the irony of the material world, where companies that once exploited resources and labor are now transforming into renewable energy companies, leading the circular economy.


The presence or absence of these six substances does not threaten human survival.
But without these substances, humanity would not have been able to develop civilization and achieve prosperity.
From the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution to World Wars I and II, material has been at the heart of crucial moments in human history, and the future that unfolds will also be built on material.

● “Through the invisible war surrounding material
“The geopolitical fault lines of the future are being redefined.”
A new perspective on the history of civilization that has captured the attention of the world

"The Material World" presents the history of civilization that humans have created and will create through sites around the world, based on a balanced perspective that transcends any one field, such as history, economics, science, or war.
Most people have enjoyed the fruits of the earth without having to dig and touch the material.
How was the smartphone we hold in our hands every day created? What process did the pen go through to reach my desk? Have you ever considered how much of the world's resources are being destroyed for our own convenience?

We must no longer be trapped in the immaterial world, but live a life connected to the material world.
Because the material world is not a space that remains in a disconnected past, but rather shows the way to the future.
The journey depicted by the six substances contained in this book will help us escape the world we live in and move into the material world, becoming the first step toward understanding it.