Handmade

Written By Linda Malek

Handmade by Anna Ploszajski

Reviewed by Mimi
📘📘📘📘📘

This book is one of my favourite non-fiction reads of the year so far. Don't be fooled into believing it’s a generic popular science book trying to break down complex topics into something you and I can easily understand. The first big difference is that this is written by a young woman and in contrast to the many men who have put pen to paper, Anna's personality shines through.

She is a material scientist who decided to understand the real life uses, applications and processes of materials she has spent her career studying at a molecular level. Each chapter is a new material and begins with a personal account of how that material has played a part in Anna's life. These were the parts of the book that were particularly enjoyable to me. Whether it's her love of the trumpet in the brass chapter or the experience of swimming The Channel (oh yes she did) that's covered in the Sugar chapter, this deeply personal read was educational, emotional, insightful and inspiring.

Another aspect to note is Anna's efforts to avoid this being Euro-centric. She has obviously done her research into how materials and the processes around them have had roles in other parts of the world in other civilisations and times. It is the perfect blend between art and science and something everyone can enjoy.

Linda Malek

I've always had the urge to set up a forum and voice my thoughts after each read, but never had the confidence to do so alone. 18 months ago, I got my fellow book-loving friends involved and formed The Candid Book Club! Aside from having an exponentially growing to-read pile and deteriorating shortsightedness, we've been lucky to have been invited to publisher events and have attended several talks with our favourite authors (Thank you and long may they continue!) To take a break from the pressures of PhD Chemistry, Jess and I exchanged books all the time and in my youth, I was that kid with the first editions of Harry Potter having already read Gulliver’s travels and some Charles Dickens. At work, my desk is a library and luckily for me I sit next to another bookworm Jack who entertains all the photo-taking. I'm suffering from a chronic case of wanderlust (age-related crisis) so books which are set as far away from home as possible tend to float my boat: Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Asia...you name it. But if it's got anything to do with Egypt then I'm all over it. So you get the drift...I read all the time, everywhere (on the tube mostly), everyday, a book a week, and very quickly I'm onto the next! And then sometimes there is a book that stops me in my tracks, makes me want to swallow the pages whole, and have it next to me at all times, with some sentences staying with me forever: Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts, anything by Khaled Hosseini, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo (absolute gem of a woman), A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shuklaand and anything by Naguib Mahfouz.

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