For the first week of classes, the readings included the text, Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World. The introduction of the text explained the things that people use in their daily lives in a different light. The reading made me think about how important material objects are in my life and how without them there would be virtually nothing. Although this was written after the first week of classes has passed, I am now even more curious to learn about the intricacies found in history and historical objects. In the other reading, Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World, The author made me think more about power structures than I ever had before. The reading covered the issues with power structures and the faults of someone that has too much power. I can definitely see how this could be applied to Chinese history and its rich past of kings and emperors and how each one influenced each dynasty. I am interested in how both of these readings could interact with each other, and how material objects and people with too much power interact. Overall, each reading is different from what we have been learning so far in class but I am able to relate the basis of the ideas to our lessons.
Bibliography
Crone, Patricia. Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World. London: Oneworld, 2015.
Miodownik, Mark. Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.
