Objects of desire

The intricate and ingenious ways the myriad stuff that surrounds us – and which we take for granted – gets made

Edward Posnett

It’s some measure of the extent of urbanisation that the bookends to our day may not be birdsong but the sound of a kettle as the water in it reaches boiling point. That “tock” is made by a miniature device, a small disc consisting of alternating strips of two different metals. When exposed to heat, the metals expand at different rates, the disc gradually curves, and a switch is tripped, cutting off electricity to the kettle. Few of us know this; we write odes to nightingales, not thermostats, even though it is the latter that provides our morning soundtrack, those sonic notches that mark the passing of each day. Tock, tock, tock. I thought little about those metallic notes until I read Tim Minshall’s new book, an ambitious exploration of…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 28 February 2025

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