Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder (Hardback) - Philip Marsden

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Description & Specifications

A revelatory journey from the tin mines of Cornwall to the gold mountains of Georgia in search of the substances which have both shaped our imagination and imperilled our very existence.

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.

About the Author

PHILIP MARSDEN is the award-winning author of a number of works of travel writing, fiction and non-fiction, including The Bronski House, The Spirit-Wrestlers and The Levelling Sea, and for Granta: Rising Ground and The Summer Isles. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and his work has been translated into fifteen languages. He lives in Cornwall.

Contributor:
Philip Marsden
Imprint:
Granta Books
Publisher:
Granta Books
Release Date:
13 Feb 2025
Number of Pages:
352
Binding:
Hardback
ISBN13:
9781783789627

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