Under a Metal Sky : A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder

Under a Metal Sky : A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and WonderAuthor: Marsden, Philip Europe Published on 13 February 2025 by GRANTA BOOKS in the United Kingdom. Hardback 352 pages 240 x 163 x 33 562g The discovery of minerals beneath our feet has transformed our species. Ochre first prompted humans to express themselves in art; tin and copper helped instigate the Bronze Age and later the Industrial Revolution; silver kick started the engines of global trade. Each of these substances generated a leap forward in

Author: Marsden, Philip

Europe

Published on 13 February 2025 by GRANTA BOOKS in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 352 pages
240 x 163 x 33 | 562g

The discovery of minerals beneath our feet has transformed our species. Ochre first prompted humans to express themselves in art; tin and copper helped instigate the Bronze Age and later the Industrial Revolution; silver kick-started the engines of global trade. Each of these substances generated a leap forward in technology, each one opened the imagination a little further - and each one brought with it a cache of unexpected dangers. Under A Metal Sky begins and ends in Philip Marsden's homeland of Cornwall, one of the world's great geological hotspots.Travelling eastwards into Europe, he examines how the extraction of peat propelled the Netherlands to world prominence but also imperilled its very existence. Continuing on up the Rhine by barge, into the heart of the continent, he uncovers more stories of potent and tempting resources, from iron-rich meteorites to radium and mercury, and the gold-bearing mountains of Georgia. At the same time he explores precious seams of ideas, from science to alchemy, mysticism to ecology - and those questing souls who pursued them, likeParacelsus, the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, Goethe,William Blake and Marie Curie. Rich with revelations, Under A Metal Sky traces the dazzling achievements and dark consequences of our ability to extract what we want from the earth, and presents a fascinating new perspective on European history and on our troubled relationship with the natural world.