IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022 - 17

Book Review
The Alchemy of Us: How Humans
and Matter Transformed One
Another-Ainissa Ramirez
(Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press,
2020, 328 pp.)
Reviewed by Eric P. Wenaas
 If ever there was a book that fit so neatly into
the theme of this magazine-the social implication of
technology-this is it. Author Ainissa Ramirez, a Stanford
PhD whose background is in materials science,
describes how a number of different materials were
shaped by individuals, and how the resulting technologies
that used these materials, in turn, shaped
society. In short, the alchemy of matter begets the
alchemy of us.
Ramirez writes: " Overall, Alchemy of Us seeks to
create a new connection to the world, to history and
to each other. Admittedly, the linkage between science
and culture may seem a heady concept, but
an erudite 20th-century sociologist named Madonna
sang about it when she crooned that we live in a
material world.... But not only do we live in a material
world, we are in a dance with these materials,
too. We form them, but they, in turn, shape us. "
There are eight short stories for eight classes of
materials, each with a common theme told in separate
chapters. The stories could have been presented in a
mundane way by introducing each material, explaining
how it was invented or developed, identifying the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2022.3173341
Date of current version: 14 June 2022.
June 2022
product or products that were created with it, and
finally revealing how the products changed society.
Instead, the author tells eight compelling stories by
weaving together four or five seemingly disparate
vignettes about each material that involved personal
experiences of individuals who created, used, or
were affected by the materials and the products that
resulted. At the end of each story, the vignettes somehow
come together to tell an interesting, informative,
and cohesive story about how society was changed.
For example, the first short story titled " Interact "
explains " how better clocks, made possible by small
metal springs and vibrating gems [quartz crystals],
helped us keep time, but also made us lose track
of something precious. " Ainissa Ramirez makes the
story come alive by beginning with a vignette about
Ruth and Arnold. Ruth Belville (1854-1943) had a
business in London selling precise time to railroads,
jewelers, newspapers, and others who had a need for
very accurate time. She would rise early every morning
and travel to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich
to set her clock. Ruth and her very high-quality clock,
Arnold, interacted with her customers about town
as she made her daily rounds. The vignette ends by
pointing out that by bringing customers accurate
0278-0097/22©2022 IEEE
17

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2022

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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
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