WHAT THINGS ARE MADE OF: America's Global Dependency on Just About Everything

The United States relies on imports for dozens of commodities in everyday use. Often enough, that reliance is 100%. This book provides awareness of the hidden geology and mineralogy behind common things, and develops an appreciation for the global resource distribution that underpins our society. While concerns about oil import reliance are in the news every day, our needs for other minerals are comparable and are typically unknown even to technologically aware Americans.

Gold, copper, talc, europium, salt, natural gas and kidney stones – each has a complex tale to tell. Rocks are books, and minerals punctuate the pages with riches to lure miners and businessmen to the far corners of the planet.

This book blends history, technology, mineralogy, and geology into the current-events story behind the origin of the building blocks of cars, cell phones, cosmetics, houses, and much more.