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Mistaken Materials

Mistaken Materials

Happy Spring (northern hemisphere) readers! And welcome to my new subscribers. This is Riveting, with Roma, where I explore the objects we shape, the people who design them, and the world they create in return.

I've had a busy April and May, I hosted an awards ceremony for the Inst. of Civil Engineers, spoke at the Books in the Park festival, and signed a new piece of consulting work, around designing a programme of education for young people. If you want to book me for something, just reply to this email!

This month:

Mistaken Materials

Not all new materials are invented through planned experiments and processes. Sometimes, things go wrong. But then, these mistakes can lead to exciting new discoveries.

Liquid Paper

Bette Nesmith Graham was working as a secretary in 1956 and sometimes made mistakes with her typing. She used tempera – a fast-drying paint often made from eggs, to correct them. One day, Bette made a mistake at work and lost her job, which led her to setting up a company selling her invention, which she called ‘Mistake out’.

There's a BBC podcast on this!

Safety Glass

In 1903, French chemist and inventor Edouard Benedictus knocked over a glass flask that was holding some liquid plastic. The glass shattered but didn’t break into pieces. Benedictus realised the liquid plastic held the broken bits of glass together, and inspired by this, he invented a ‘sandwich’ made from two sheets of glass with plastic in between. Our car windscreens are made of this to keep us safe if we’re in an accident.

Post-it notes

Trying to invent a new glue, scientist Dr Silver accidentally created a weak, easy-to-peel glue. He had no idea how he could make use of it, until another scientist, Art Fry, worked with him to create paper with the glue on one side. They wrote messages on them and stuck them around their office. And the Post-it note was born.

Play-Doh

Play-Doh began life as cleaning product, but when its inventor realised that children found modelling clay hard to shape, he sent his squishy invention to schools for testing. The children loved it, so Play-Doh went from boring cleaner to colourful, exciting plaything.

Women's Prize for non-fiction 2026 - the last four books

Each month, I've been sharing short blurbs on the sixteen long-listed books, here are the last of these! The award will be announced next month, and I can't wait. I'm in this for the parties, after all...

Art Cure

This is a science book. About how beneficial the arts are to our help. We empirically know that, but here is the data, presented in an accessible and fascinating way. I learned loads about how brains work.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Kanneh-Mason has an extraordinarily talented family of musicians. There are books about racism but I'd never read one that specifically addresses the issues that Black artists face in their profession.

Ask me how it Works

I couldn't stop reading this one, Deepa Paul bares her all in this compelling look at life and motherhood in an open marriage. I particularly like the fact that the author is a South-Asian woman, we rarely hear these types of stories from our community.

Nation of Strangers

Ece Temelkuran is an exile. She moves from place to place working, doing research, writing, applying for visas to stay as long as her host country will allow. This book explores the very urgent issue of being an immigrant and refugee, urging us all to create kind connections with each other.

And finally!

Your chance to win. I am offering the chance to win a signed copy of How to Build a Chocolate Bridge to folks that sign up to my newsletter in May. Since you're already signed up, you'll be entered into a draw if you send this on to three of your friends. To enter, simply reply to this newsletter and let me know that you've done this! (I trust you.)

Winners announced in June!