The Alchemy of Us
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Average rating3.5
In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines eight inventions—clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips—and reveals how they shaped the human experience. Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes, among other things, how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway's writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid's cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies.
Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.
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Total “didja know?” sort of book. Selling time, second sleep, trains and timezones and that Frederick Douglass was the most photographed man of his time.
Photography proved a hell of a chapter. I learn how Kodak blithely ignoring complaints from black mothers in the 1950s and 60s. They'd argue that Kodak colour film left their children's faces underexposed with only the eyes and teeth visible against an otherwise featureless dark shape. This would contribute to damaging stereotypes that were perpetuated for years. The thing was that Kodak's film was calibrated to perfect the portrayal of white skin. It wasn't until furniture makers and chocolatiers complained in the 70s that the formulations were recalibrated to better show off rich walnut grains and melting dark chocolate - not to mention correct their initial bias.
And the Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement. Caroline Hunter and her husband both worked at Polaroid when they discovered the company's involvement with South Africa's apartheid system. Polaroid's ID-2 camera facilitated the system of passbooks that controlled the movement of black South Africans. The creation of the PRWM and her continued protests would cost Caroline her job but her efforts would eventually lead to the complete withdrawal of Polaroid from South Africa.
Not all the chapters are equally strong but it was fascinating how Ramirez chose to come at particular stories from Edison to Muybridge and broaden their scope.
