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Bookshelf: The Advanced Materials Revolution: Technology and Economic Growth in the Age of Globalization

April 9, 2009
By Sanford L. Moskowitz, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2009, 255 pages, $74.95

In part a history lesson and in part an analysis of promising and not-yet-so-promising technologies on the horizon, The Advanced Materials Revolution offers readers a thorough discussion of the advanced materials industry.

Why the term "revolution"? Possibly because the early 1980s "ushered in one of the most dynamic and important chapters in U.S. and international industrial history," with the emergence of the advanced materials industry, says author Sanford L. Moskowitz, an assistant professor of management at St. John's University and St. Benedict. "They continue to diffuse into and transform the world that we know, and the society we will come to know over the next century and beyond," he writes.

Early on, Moskowitz takes readers on a tour of the advanced materials landscape, from bioengineered technologies to thin films and advanced composites. By no stretch is this book simply a scientific text, however. By late in Chapter 2, the author has introduced the impact of globalization on the current and future development of these materials, and later discusses the role of advanced materials in economic activity and competitiveness.

He addresses the varied approaches to research and development taken by the United States and Europe, and indeed ultimately provides significant perspective on the advanced materials industry and how it is impacting the competitiveness of Europe and the United States.

At 255 pages of densely packed text, The Advanced Materials Revolution is not a light read. However, it provides significant source material for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of this industry.

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About the Author

Jill Jusko

Bio: Jill Jusko is executive editor for IndustryWeek. She has been writing about manufacturing operations leadership for more than 20 years. Her coverage spotlights companies that are in pursuit of world-class results in quality, productivity, cost and other benchmarks by implementing the latest continuous improvement and lean/Six-Sigma strategies. Jill also coordinates IndustryWeek’s Best Plants Awards Program, which annually salutes the leading manufacturing facilities in North America. 

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