Now that the book is about to become available - the publisher uploaded it to the printer today, for a check-print for me before it is actually for sale - I'm going to change my approach to the blog a bit.
I'll try to focus on updates, connections to things in the book that supplement and expand on it, and changes and news related to the topics in the book. It's a certainty that some aspects of the book will be out of date as soon as it is printed, because of the dramatic and speedy changes related to some materials. Rare earths come to mind: the demand, diverse uses, and global distribution of rare earths are in the news weekly if not daily. And there will likely be a bit more about oil and natural gas.
The blog and my web site will also become venues for interesting tables of information that I could not reasonably include in the book. And pictures!
Thanks for your interest. The book ought to be available for purchase by the end of March or possibly sooner. I'll post the link here instantly!
3 comments:
Can't wait to read about the publication date! Kudos to you for all your hard work and research.
Thanks!
Dick, it is interesting the way our industrial society can transform "useless stuff" to "important raw material" overnight. So many examples, but coal tar comes to mind: Liebig's student Hofmann taught Perkin organic structural chemistry and the next thing you know black smelly crud that no one could get rid of "mauveine." And, well, never mind that Perkin was trying to synthesize quinine...
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