本書對原料世界的探索充其量只能算稍窺皮毛，但好訊息是，你若有興趣深耕，這裡為你準備了豐富的閱讀材料。不過我得根據自己的經驗提出唯一的警告：這種東西極能讓人上癮。你會在不知不覺間墜入鋁生產、氫化裂解，或矽晶錠的「蟲洞」（wormhole）深淵，無法自拔。不過如果你願意冒險，可以嘗試從幾個地方著手。

如果你把這本書精煉成人形，結果或許是一位像瓦克拉．史密爾一樣的人物。史密爾是捷克科學家，目前任教於加拿大明尼託巴大學（University of Manitoba）。這本書有許多地方以他的研究為參考依據，如果你想知道得更多，無論是肥料或鋼的歷史，還是從古到今的人類使用能源曲線，你能在他的作品中找到大部分答案。下文會列舉許多他的著作。或許可以用他在二○二二年發表的《How the World Really Works 》作為這篇書目的開場。本書的另一重要主題──我們所謂工業革命其實是一場能源革命──有許多來自已故作家東尼．雷格利（Tony Wrigley）。雷格利的二○一○年著作《Energy and the English Industrial Revolution 》，改變了有關這個主題的思考。「能」真的就是一切；對原料世界的探討愈深，我愈能領悟這話的真實。想了解這個主題，理查．羅德（Richard Rhodes）的《Energy: A Human History 》是絕佳的入門讀物。

如果你對材料學有興趣，高登（J.E. Gordon）的《The New Science of Strong Materials 》是很好的切入點。從伊凡．阿馬託（Ivan Amato）的《Stuff 》與史蒂芬．薩斯（Stephen Sass）的《The Substance of Civilization 》，到馬克．米奧杜尼（Mark Miodownik）的《Stuff Matters 》，極好的相關科普書籍很多。約翰．布羅尼（John Browne）的《Seven Elements That Have Changed the World 》也是很有用的讀物。如果你有興趣深入探討特定原料世界，以下是我的一些建議。

砂

有兩本有關砂的絕佳著述──麥克．威爾蘭（Michael Welland）的《Sand: The Never- Ending Story 》，以及文斯．貝瑟（Vince Beiser）的《The World in a Grain 》。想了解玻璃在人類發展過程中佔有的核心地位，可以閱讀葛裡．馬丁（Gerry Martin）與亞蘭．麥法蘭（Alan Macfarlane）所著《The Glass Bathyscaphe 》。不過如果你要找的是一種比較偏向科學性的讀物，賽斯．拉斯姆森（Seth Rasmussen）的《How Glass Changed the World 》值得一讀。有關混凝土的科學與實用性書籍很多，不過如果你想綜觀全域性，羅伯．庫蘭（Robert Courland）的《Concrete Planet 》是首選。但有了那種初步認識之後，或許你想進一步深入探討營造世界，在這種情況下，我推薦比爾．艾迪斯（Bill Addis）的《Building 》。這是一本所謂「咖啡桌書籍」，值得珍藏的讀物，或許直到今後許多年，閒來無事，你還會津津有味地翻閱它。我在撰寫有關矽晶片那一章時，發現可以參考的有關半導體製作方面的書籍少得出奇。瓊．傑納（Jon Gertner）的《The Idea Factory 》對早期貝爾實驗室有關晶圓的研究有非常精采的論述。此外，厄尼斯．布隆（Ernest Braun）與史都華．麥唐納（Stuart MacDonald）在一九七八年發表的《Revolution in Miniature 》也是了不起的作品。之後，就在我交出定稿之前不久，克里斯．米勒（Chris Miller）的鉅作《晶片戰爭》（Chip War ）問世，我們終於有了一本真正關於半導體的書。如果矽供應鏈之旅激起你的興趣，你知道去哪裡找你要讀的東西了。

鹽

有關鹽有兩本「一般興趣」的好書，皮耶．拉茲洛（Pierre Laszlo）的《Salt: Grain of Life 》與馬克．庫蘭斯基（Mark Kurlansky）的權威之作《Salt: A World History 》，但探討鹽與化學劑這類特定主題的好文與好書多得不勝列舉。想深入探討氯化鈉的歷史，可以選讀沙穆爾．艾德希德（Samuel Adshead）的《Salt and Civilization 》。想了解智利 caliche 鹽的故事，湯瑪斯．哈格爾（Thomas Hager）的《The Alchemy of Air 》可能是最適合的切入點，書中對費裡茲．哈伯（合成氮肥發明人）的悲劇故事也有很精采的描述。班哲明．拉巴圖（Benjamin Labatut）的《When We Cease to Understand the World 》，雖是一本討論各種科學真相、半虛構的書，或許不能告訴你太多有關高壓製造技術的東西，但它的第一章（內容九九％精確）對哈伯一生有最詩情畫意的描繪。

鐵

本書有關鐵與銅的討論，許多地方取材自馬丁．林奇（Martin Lynch）的礦業演進史大作《Mining in World History 》。瓦克拉．史密爾的《Still the Iron Age 》對瞭解煉鋼這個特定主題很有幫助，而羅傑．奧斯邦（Roger Osborne）的《Iron, Steam & Money 》能引領你讀完英國工業革命的故事。史蒂芬．科金（Stephen Kotkin）在《Magnetic Mountain 》中，對史達林的熱中鋼鐵以及因鐵礦而生的那個城市有非常精采的描述。本書有關鐵的後半段討論，特別是有關鋼鐵未來的部分，得力於朱利安．奧伍德（Julian Allwood）與喬納森．庫蘭（Jonathan Cullen）所著《Sustainable Materials: With Both Eyes Open 》之處甚多。你可以從劍橋大學網站免費下載這本書。心動不如行動，現在就下載，你不會後悔。

銅

本書涉及電氣革命、有關銅的前段討論，來自三本書：羅伯．卡洛（Robert Caro）的「林登．詹森（Lyndon B. Johnson）傳」第一冊《The Path to Power 》，湯瑪斯．帕克．休斯（Thomas Parke Hughes）的《Networks of Power 》，以及理查．彭斯（Richard Pence）的《The Next Greatest Thing 》。《The Next Greatest Thing 》由國家農村地區電氣合作協會（National Rural Electric Cooperative Association）出版，討論早期農村地區電力網路。有關湯瑪斯．愛迪生的傳記很多，最近的一本出自愛德蒙．摩里斯（Edmund Morris）之手。但有關這場電氣系統之戰──銅的珍稀，是決定這場戰役勝負的部分關鍵──最精采的著作，首推吉爾．瓊斯（Jill Jonnes）的《Empires of Light 》。想了解更多有關銅本身的資訊，可以參考蘇珊與巴里．高定（Suzanne and Barry Golding）的《Metals, Energy and Sustainability: The Story of Doctor Copper and King Coal 》。這本書對丘基卡馬塔那個大坑有更詳盡的描繪。保羅．沙賓（Paul Sabin）的《The Bet 》，討論了保羅．艾利克與與朱利安．賽門那場「馬爾薩斯論」與「豐饒論」之間的交鋒。有關深海採礦的問題還找不到相關著述，不過，當然了，這一切在很大程度上取決於深海採礦能不能成為一種商業現實。

石油

談到石油的故事，丹尼爾．耶爾金（Daniel Yergin）的《The Prize 》是必讀之作。如果你對現代史有興趣，趕快找來看絕錯不了，你若對能源有興趣，就更加不必說了。葛雷格．朱克曼（Greg Zuckerman）的《The Frackers 》對頁巖革命有極佳的描述。瓦克拉．史密爾的《Natural Gas: Fuel for the 21st Century 》對甲烷有更多細節性討論。無論地緣政治難度如何，未來幾十年我們都將仰賴甲烷。直到目前為止，就我所知最能幫「正常人」瞭解煉油的書，是威廉．雷夫勒（William Leffler）的《Petrol Refining in Nontechnical Language 》。若是沒有這本書，我永遠不可能在煉油廠那些義大利麵也似的輸油管叢林中進出。蘇珊．福蘭凱（Susan Freinkel）的《Plastic: A Toxic Love Story 》很適合初次接觸石化故事的讀者，威廉．黎德（William Reader）有關帝國化學工業公司歷史的兩冊著述，對許多重要原物料有非常詳盡的記述。如果有任何人想寫一本有關帝國化工之後式微的書，至少我會是你的現成讀者。

鋰

毫無疑問，未來幾十年會出現許多有關鋰與電池化學的好書，但在寫這本書時，賽斯．佛瑞契（Seth Fletcher）的《Bottled Lightning 》與史蒂夫．雷文（Steve LeVine）的《The Powerhouse 》是既有作品中最強有力的兩本書，不過亨利．桑德森（Henry Sanderson）於二○二二年發表的《Volt Rush 》，對我們日後發電需要的材料與原料開採，有更詳細、更多采多姿的描繪。如果你想知道更多有關特斯拉以及它雲霄飛車式崛起的故事，可以閱讀提姆．希金斯（Tim Higgins）的《Power Play 》。我在最後一章有關鋰的討論中，雖說只是不經意地提到剛果，但我還是要推薦亞當．霍希德（Adam Hochschild）的《King Leopold's Ghost 》。這本書討論的年代雖在剛果銅礦與鈾礦貿易年代以前，但對於這個曾經偉大的非洲國家如何因倒行逆施而沒落，有非常精闢的解說。

以下是我在撰寫本書時使用的參考書書單。不過還有許多學術研究報告與論文無法一一在書單中詳列。想查閱所有有關資料，可以上 www.edmundconway.com material-world-bibliography 搜尋。

Abraham, D.S., The Elements of Power: Gadgets, Guns, and the Struggle for a Sustainable Future in the Rare Metal Age (Yale University Press, 2015)

Addis, B., Building: 3,000 Years of Design, Engineering and Construction (Phaidon, 2007)

Adriaanse, A. and World Resources Institute (eds), Resource Flows: The Material Basis of Industrial Economies (World Resources Institute, 1997)

Adshead, S.A.M., Salt and Civilization (Palgrave Macmillan, 1992)

Aftalion, F., History of the International Chemical Industry (Chemical Heritage Foundation, 1992)

Allen, RC., The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2009)

Allwood, J.M. and Cullen, J.M., Sustainable Materials: With Both Eyes Open (UIT Cambridge, 2012)

Amato, I., Stuff: The Materials the World Is Made Of (Bard, 1998)

Azhar, A., Exponential: Order and Chaos in an Age of Accelerating Technology (Cornerstone Digital, 2021)

Barger, T.C., Out in the Blue: Letters from Arabia 1937-1940 (Selwa Pr, 2000)

Beiser, V., The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization (Riverhead, 2018)

Blakemore, H., From the Pacific to La Paz: Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Company, 1888-1988 (Imprint unknown, 1990)

Blas, J. and Farchy, J., The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources (Cornerstone Digital, 2021)

Braun, E. and MacDonald, S., Revolution in Miniature: The History and Impact of Semiconductor Electronics (Cambridge University Press, 1978)

Browne, J., Seven Elements That Have Changed the World: Iron, Carbon, Gold, Silver, Uranium, Titanium, Silicon (W &N, 2014)

Callister, W.D. and Rethwisch, D.G., Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction (Wiley, 2010)

Carlson, W.B., Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press, 2013)

Caro, RA., The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (The Bodley Head, 2019)

Chang, J. and Halliday, J., Mao: The Unknown Story (Vintage Digital, 2012)

Coggan, P., More: The 10,000-Year Rise of the World Economy (Economist, 2020)

Cohen, J.-L. and Martin, G., Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete (Princeton Architectural Press, 2006)

Copeland, D.C., Economic Interdependence and War (Princeton University Press, 2014)

Courland, R, Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World's Most Common Man-Made Material (Prometheus, 2011)

Coyle, D., The Weightless World: Strategies for managing the digital economy (Capstone, 1997)

Coyle, D., GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History (Princeton University Press, 2015)

Crathorne, N., Eliot (Baroness of Harwood), K. and Dugdale, J., Tennant's Stalk: The Story of the Tennants of the Glen (Macmillan, 1973)

Dartnell, L., Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History (Vintage Digital, 2019)

Edgerton, D., The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 (Profile, 2008)

Ehrlich, P.R., The Population Bomb (Ballantine, 1989)

Fletcher, S., Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy (Hill & Wang, 2011)

Freinkel, S., Plastic: A Toxic Love Story (Mariner, 2011)

Friedel, R. and Israel, P.B., Edison's Electric Light: The Art of Invention (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010)

Gates, B., How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need (Penguin, 2021)

Gertner, J., The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (Penguin, 2013)

Golding, B. and Golding, S.D., Metals, Energy and Sustainability (Springer, 2017)

Gordon, J.E., The New Science of Strong Materials: Or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor (Penguin, 1991)

Gordon, R.J., The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War (Princeton University Press, 2017)

Guevara, E.C., The Motorcycle Diaries, trans. Che Guevara Studies Center (Penguin, 2021)

Gustafson, T., Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012)

Hager, T., The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler (Crown, 2008)

Hall, C.A.S. and Klitgaard, K., Energy and the Wealth of Nations (Springer, 2018)

Hartcup, G., War of Invention (Brassey's, 1988)

Haskel, J. and Westlake, S., Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy (Princeton University Press, 2017)

Hecht, J., City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics (Oxford University Press, 1999)

Higgins, T., Power Play: Elon Musk, Tesla, and the Best of the Century (WH Allen, 2021)

Higginson, J., A Working Class in the Making: Belgian Colonial Labor Policy, Private Enterprise, and the African Mineworker, 1907-1951 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1989)

Hochschild, A., King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Picador, 2019)

Hochschild, A., To End All Wars: A Story of Protest and Patriotism in the First World War (Picador, 2011)

Hughes, T.P.P., Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993)

Hyde, C.K., Copper for America: The United States Copper Industry from Colonial Times to the 1990s (University of Arizona Press, 2016)

Israel, P., Edison: A Life of Invention (Wiley, 1998)

Johnson, S., How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World (Penguin, 2015)

Jones, R.A.L., Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life (Oxford University Press, 2007)

Jonnes, J., Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World (Random House, 2004)

Joralemon, LB., Romantic Copper: Its Lure and Lore (D. Appleton-Century Co, 1934)

King-Hall, S., A North Sea Diary, 1914-1918 (Forgotten Books, 2012)

Kotkin, S., Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization (University of California Press, 1997)

Kurlansky, M., Salt: A World History (Vintage, 2003)

Kynge, J., China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010)

Labatut, B., When We Cease to Understand the World (Pushkin Press, 2020)

Laszlo, P., Salt: Grain of Life (Columbia University Press, 2001)

LeCain, T.J., Mass Destruction: The Men and Giant Mines That Wired America and Scarred the Planet (Rutgers University Press, 2009)

Leffler, W.L., Petroleum Refining in Nontechnical Language (Penn Well, 2020)

Le Vine, S., The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World (Penguin, 2015)

Lynch, M., Mining in World History (Reaktion, 2003)

Martin, G. and Macfarlane, A., The Glass Bathyscaphe: How Glass Changed the World (Profile, 2011)

Mathews, J.A. and Cho, Dong-sung, Tiger Technology: The Creation of a Semiconductor Industry in East Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

Matthews, E. (ed.), The Weight of Nations: Material Outflows from Industrial Economies (World Resources Institute, 2000)

McAfee, A., More From Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources -And What Happens Next (Simon & Schuster, 2019)

McGrayne, S.B., Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World (McGraw-Hill, 2001)

McMahon, D., China's Great Wall of Debt: Shadow Banks, Ghost Cities, Massive Loans and the End of the Chinese Miracle (Little, Brown, 2018)

McMurray, S., Energy to the World: The Story of Saudi Aramco (Aramco, 2011)

Meadows, D.H. et al., The Limits to Growth (Universe, 1972)

Miller, C., Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology (Simon & Schuster, 2022)

Miodownik, M., Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World (Penguin, 2013)

Mokyr, J., A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy (Princeton University Press, 2018)

Morris, E., Edison (Random House, 2019)

Moxham, R., The Great Hedge of India (Constable, 2001)

Mumford, L., Technics and Civilization (University of Chicago Press, 2010)

Nephew, R., The Art of Sanctions: A View from the Field (Columbia University Press, 2018)

Norton, M.G., Ten Materials That Shaped Our World (Springer, 2021)

Norwich, J.J., A History of Venice (Penguin, 2003)

Osborne, R., Iron, Steam & Money: The Making of the Industrial Revolution (Pimlico, 2014)

Pence, P. (ed.), The Next Greatest Thing (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, 1984)

Pilkey, 0.H. and Cooper, J.A.G., The Last Beach (Duke University Press, 2014)

Pitron, G., The Rare Metals War: The Dark Side of Clean Energy and Digital Technologies (Scribe Publications, 2020)

Plokhy, S., The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (Penguin, 2015)

Pollan, M., Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World (Bloomsbury, 2009)

Rackham, 0., Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape (Orion, 2020)

Rasmussen, S.C., How Glass Changed the World , Vol. 3, Springer Briefs in Molecular Science (Springer, 2012)

Reader, W.J., Imperial Chemical Industries: A History: Vols 1 and 2 (Oxford University Press, 1970)

Rhodes, R., Energy: A Human History (Simon & Schuster, 2018)

Ridley, M., How Innovation Works (Fourth Estate, 2020)

Sabin, P., The Bet (Yale University Press, 2013)

Sambrook, S.C., The Optical Munitions Industry in Great Britain 1888 to 1923 (Routledge, 2016)

Sanderson, H., Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green (Simon & Schuster, 2022)

Sass, S.L., The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon (Sky horse, 2011)

Shi, C., Krivenko, P. V. and Roy, D.M., Alkali-activated Cements and Concretes (Taylor & Francis, 2006)

Shurkin, J.N., Broken Genius (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

Smil, V., Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production (The MIT Press, 2000)

Smil, V., Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact (Oxford University Press, 2005)

Smil, V., Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization (Wiley, 2013)

Smil, V., Natural Gas: Fuel for the 21st Century (Wiley, 2015)

Smil, V., Still the Iron Age: Iron and Steel in the Modern World (Butterworth- Heinemann, 2016)

Smil, V., Energy and Civilization: A History (The MIT Press, 2017)

Smil, V., Oil: A Beginner's Guide (Oneworld, 2017)

Smil, V., How the World Really Works: A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future (Penguin, 2022)

Smith, A., The Wealth of Nations (Penguin, 2000)

Standage, T., A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel to the Car to What Comes Next (Bloomsbury, 2021)

Thompson, H., Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century (Oxford University Press, 2021)

Watts, S., The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century (Vintage, 2009)

Welland, M., Sand: The Never-Ending Story (University of California Press, 2009)

Winchester, S., Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World (William Collins, 2018)

Wrigley, E.A., Energy and the English Industrial Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Yergin, D., The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations (Penguin, 2020)

Yergin, D., The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power (Simon & Schuster, 2012)

Zuckerman, G., The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Energy Revolution (Penguin, 2013)