Under a Metal Sky

A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder

Philip Marsden

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English

Granta
29 April 2025

Mathematics & Sciences; Geology & the lithosphere; Rocks, minerals & fossils; Travel writing

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.

By: Philip Marsden
Imprint: Granta
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781783789627
ISBN 10: 178378962X
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 29 April 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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.

Reviews for Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder

A luminously rich exploration of the mineral wonderland beneath our feet. Imaginatively traveled and beautiful written -- Colin Thubron A book of breathtaking wealth and depth, as passionate as it is clear-eyed (and funny). Marsden takes the history of metals and, from it, creates a dazzling history of humanity and our relationship with this planet. It can only be alchemy -- Tom Bullough