Saliva is fine in the mouth, but disgusting when it's drooling down the chin, stomach acid belongs in the tummy, half-chewed food, saliva and bile vomited up is beyond disgusting, poo and pee belong in the toilet, not squished underfoot, blood is supposed to stay invisble under the skin or absorbed by a Tampax, not running down the thighs. Mucus belongs in the lungs and is disgusting when it's coughed up green and yellow.

Notes on reading Everybody (normal) is revolted when bodily liquids escape their proper place. The ending was worthy of a let's-tie-up-all-the-loose-ends novel, rather than a pop science book.īut that could all just be me, others who don't find concrete any more fascinating than water, or chocolate than making a cup of tea, might 5 star it. It was set around an airplane flight to San Francisco, and all the liquids involved from kerosene to the molten rock that the tectonic plates under San Francisco float on. It could be that I found the structure of this book a bit cutesy. I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy it as much, it could be that I didn't really find any of the liquids as fascinating as I did the materials, specifically concrete (my new obsession) and chocolate (my constant obsession) and aerogel. Just as in Stuff Matters, Mark Miodownik's unique brand of scientific storytelling brings liquids and their mysterious properties to life in a captivating new way.This book, to me, wasn't in the same class as Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World which I read, got really excited about an ordered this one. We come to see liquids as substances of wonder and fascination, and to understand their potential for death and destruction. Throughout the trip, we encounter fluids within the plane - from a seemingly ordinary cup of tea to a liquid crystal display screen - and without, in the volcanoes of Iceland, the frozen expanse of Greenland, and the marvelous California coastline. Set over the course of a flight from London to San Francisco, Liquid Rules offers readers a fascinating tour of these formless substances, told through the language of molecules, droplets, heartbeats, and ocean waves. But do we really understand how much we rely on liquids, or the destructive power they hold? We all know that without water we couldn't survive, and that sometimes a cup of coffee or a glass of wine feels just as vital. Sometimes explosive, often delicious, occasionally poisonous, but always interesting: The New York Times best-selling author of Stuff Matters reveal the secret lives of liquids: the shadow counterpart of our solid 'stuff'.

Liquid rules mark miodownik