Short annotation
The new book titled “GLASS from sand to glass-ceramics through the Silk Road” has been issued a few weeks ago in Italy by CLUT publisher (www.clut.it). The book was co-authorized by professor Massimo Tomalino from Politecnico di Torino along with professor Dilshat Tulyaganov from Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent. This is the second book of the authors while the first one titled “Porcelain from tableware to dental restoration has been issued by the same publisher in 2017.
The first part of the book “GLASS from sand to glass-ceramics through the Silk Road” deals with the development of glass since its origin in Mesopotamia many millennia ago to modern time across the Roman and Medieval Ages, with emphasis on its importance in arts, architecture and history of science. A fascinating (virtual) travel along the Silk Route is also proposed to the Reader: in this regard, the different uses of glass in the Western and Eastern countries of Eurasia are acutely related to different visions of the world. Thus, the story of glass is presented to be tightly interlocked with the people’s historical, religious and social events over the centuries.
The second part focuses on glass science and technology, with emphasis on the fundamentals of glass structural theories, the methods for silicate glass and glass-ceramic production, and the analysis of the composition-property-function relationships. A special section is dedicated to the use of glasses in medicine.
The timeline of glass development across history is provided at the end of the book, where an exhaustive chronological table collects the main achievements of glass evolution and impacts on mankind.
This book provides a valuable, interdisciplinary, rigorous but easy-to-follow overview of glass history, science, technology and applications that can be useful to a broad readership, including undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, researchers from academia and industry, and all those who simply love glass and wish to learn more about it.
