Stuff Matters

In 2010 I attempted write a book about why anyone should bother with materials science. As a materials scientist myself I was interested in the answer, having had a crisis of confidence many times in my career. But the main audience was the general public. I hoped that by writing this book I would shine a well-deserved spotlight on an underappreciated discipline. It took me many years to write the book and when it did finally get published, I was unprepared for the reception it got and how it would transform me. In this talk I describe the process of writing and publishing a popular science book, what I have learnt doing it, and how it has changed the nature of my academic career. The book is called Stuff Matters and so is this talk.