num_pages: 288
description: The clay beneath our feet is crucial to the computer and space industries bio-technology publishing and a wide range of manufacturing processes. The potter's wheel was the very first machine. With the invention of pottery came cooking and storage vessels ceramics the discovery of alcoholic beverages the oven clay tablets for the first written communication irrigation for agriculture vast trade networks plumbing sanitation and an incredibly durable building material. Much of the Great Wall of China was made of fired clay bricks-a material that can stand for centuries. Now Suzanne Staubach presents a lively look at how civilization was built on clay-from the first spark plugs to modern semi-conductors satellite communications to surgical equipment. Clay is a fascinating colorful look at how from the primordial ooze to modern miracles this most humble of substances continues to shape our world in ways limited only by the human imagination.
language: English
title: Clay: The History and Evolution of Humankind's Relationship with Earth's Most Primal Element
publisher: Berkley Hardcover