The world in a grain
The gripping story of the most important overlooked commodity in the world -- sand -- and the crucial role it plays in our lives. After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other -- even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble telescope, from the world's tallest skyscraper to the sidewalk below it, from Chartres' stained-glass windows to the smartphone in your hand, sand shelters us, connects us, and inspires us. It's the ingredient that makes possible our cities, our science, our lives -- and our future. And, incredibly, we're running out of it. The World in a Grain is the compelling true story of the hugely important and diminishing natural resource that grows more essential every day, and of the people who mine it, sell it, build with it -- and sometimes, even kill for it. It's also a provocative examination of the little-noticed, but deadly serious human and environmental costs incurred by our dependence on sand.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
8mentions
6people
2019–2024years
88% recommend13% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- For a good book on the non-renewable (on human time scales) resource of sand, see The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization by Vince Beiser:
> The World in a Grain is the compelling true story of the hugely important and diminishing natural resource that grows more essential every day, and of the people who mine it, sell it, build with it--and sometimes, even kill for it. It's also a provocative examination of the serious human and environmental costs incurred by our dependence on sand, which has received little public attention. Not all sand is created equal: Some of the easiest sand to get to is the least useful. Award-winning journalist Vince Beiser delves deep into this world, taking readers on a journey across the globe, from the United States to remote corners of India, China, and Dubai to explain why sand is so crucial to modern life.
* https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36950075
> The problem lies in the type of sand we are using. Desert sand is largely useless to us. The overwhelming bulk of the sand we harvest goes to make concrete, and for that purpose, desert sand grains are the wrong shape. Eroded by wind rather than water, they are too smooth and rounded to lock together to form stable concrete.
* https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is...
- Good book on the topic is The World in a Grain by Vince Beiser:
> After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other–even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt’s pyramids to the Hubble telescope, from the world’s tallest skyscraper to the sidewalk below it, from Chartres’ stained-glass windows to your iPhone, sand shelters us, empowers us, engages us, and inspires us. It’s the ingredient that makes possible our cities, our science, our lives–and our future.
> And, incredibly, we’re running out of it.
* https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/537681/the-world-in...
* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36950075-the-world-in-a-...
Interview:
* https://www.npr.org/2018/08/05/635748605/the-story-of-sand-i...
- Sand is basically a non-renewable resource.
Things that need sand as a raw resource (silicon, glass, concrete) generally need specific types of sands for each of those, and there's a fine amount of each type—and it's created very slowly.
'Piracy' and theft are a big issue:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_theft
* https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/jul/01/riddle-of-the...
* https://www.wired.com/2015/03/illegal-sand-mining/
A good book on the topic is The World in a Grain by Vince Beiser (ISBN 9780399576447)
* https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/537681/the-world-in...
* https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36950075-the-world-in...
- If you’re curious about the value of sand there is an awesome book named “The World in a Grain” which covers the use, history, and scarcity of sand.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/537681/the-world-in...
- If you want to read more on the topic, I enjoyed the book "The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization", by Vince Beiser (no affiliation)
- Yes, olivine is highly abundant, but due to lack of demand, most of it is currently staying underground. We seek to change that.
We are looking for synergies like that, such as covering eroding beaches, breakwaters, etc with olivine.
If you are interested in sand in construction and otherwise, I highly suggest you check out the book The World in a Grain.
The importance of sand in our everyday life blew my mind. I mean the device you are using right now to access this website, has a processor made out of silicon sand, the screen is made of quartz sand. The building you are in is likely made of aggregate sand, and the road to get to your house etc. But also, don't forget that sand was used to make the lenses for reading that made possible for our older academics, extra decades of research and enabled us to carry out astronomy and to create microscopes...
Sand has shaped the world in such a massive way, and we are hoping it can save us from our CO2 problems as well.
https://smile.amazon.com/World-Grain-Story-Transformed-Civil...
Related
Grain Brain
3 recommend · 13
An Immense World
13 recommend · 24
The machinery of life - 2. ed.
35 recommend · 44
The Once and Future World
4 recommend · 19
Bad Science
35 recommend · 57
Whole earth discipline
6 recommend · 16
Wheat Belly
8 recommend · 22
