Boom, Bust, Boom: A Story about Copper, the Metal That Runs the World

Copper is a miraculous yet contradictory metal, and something that is essential to nearly every single human enterprise. But the history of our relationship with the metal are fraught with profound difficulties - including extraction techniques that cause irrevocable damage to the Earth by releasing arsenic, cyanide, sulfuric acid, and other deadly pollutants into the air and water. In this eye-opening and fact-rich narrative, you will learn all about the paradoxical relationship we have with the substance whose necessity costs civilization and the environment dearly. Starting from the histories of old mining towns and going to the controversial Indonesian Grasberg Copper Mines and the ring at the London Metal Exchange, this exploration and journalistic approach will cause you to never look at copper the same way again.

(This title may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)