Sand and Silicon: Science that Changed the World First Edition

The book although pitched at a general science-literate reader, has the potential to act as a gateway to introduce the reader to more specialised topics. It is extremely well researched with excellent supporting references. I would certainly find it a useful text for entry-level researchers at our training schools. ― Andrew Taylor, Science & Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Where would the world be without sand? Pure and impure, heated and x rayed, in tiny crystals and huge quantities, sand is not only underfoot, but – as McWhan shows in drawing on four decades of scientific research – the most important substance in modern science and life. We rely on it in everything from our watches, cigarette lighters, submarine detectors, and filters to the computer chips that are literally the basis of the electronics revolution. Like books such as Coal, Cod and Salt, this book is an entertaining read in the genre of microhistory.

― Robert P. Crease, chairman of the philosophy department at Stony Brook University, author of World in the Balance: the Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement.