Pauline Hartsuiker’s Reviews > Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future > Status Update

If steel provides the skeleton of our world and concrete its flesh then copper is civilisation’s nervous system, the circuitry and cables we never see but couldn’t function without.

If sand is the fabric for much of the world and salt is the magic ingredient that helps us transform our world, then iron is what enables us to do things.

The Romans were among the first culture to provide formal salt rations to their soldiers - each one received an allowance, which is where the word ‘salary’ comes from, though it might better be thought of as a form of health insurance than cash, since they were also paid in money.