-
Paper
- Paging Through History
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Categories: Computers & Technology, History & Culture
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Premium Plus
$14.95 a month
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Milk!
- A 10,000-Year Food Fracas
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Kurlansky's first global food history since the best-selling Cod and Salt; the fascinating cultural, economic and culinary story of milk and all things dairy - with recipes throughout. According to the Greek creation myth, we are so much spilt milk; a splatter of the goddess Hera's breast milk became our galaxy, the Milky Way.
-
-
Horrible narration nearly kills Kurlansky
- By Scarlatti's Muse on 05-15-18
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Cod
- A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author Mark Kurlansky pleasantly surprised the world with this engaging best-seller that garnered rave reviews from critics and casual readers alike. His subject for this whimsical biography is the codfish, a species remarkable for its influence on humanity. Cod, Kurlansky argues, has driven economic, political, cultural and military thinking for centuries in the lands surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. Nations like England and Germany have waged wars for cod.
-
-
Skip the last few chapters
- By Tanya on 08-01-17
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Salt
- A World History
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as a currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is best selling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat.
-
-
More than SALT
- By Karen on 03-12-03
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
-
Beautiful, informative
- By harsh critic on 01-03-21
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Basque History of the World
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inhabiting the small corner where France meets Spain, the Basque speak their own language, Euskera. Evidence of their culture showed up as early as 218 BC, and now, with a population of 2.4 million, their influence on our world has been all-pervasive. In this "delectable portrait of an uncanny, indomitable nation," listeners will be enthralled as Kurlansky delves into the roots of an intriguing population, and shows us why they continue.
-
-
An eye opener that will break your heart
- By Perry on 12-18-04
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Big Oyster
- History on the Half Shell
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants, the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.
-
-
Ok, but not as good as his "Salt", or "Cod".
- By Frank H. on 03-22-17
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Milk!
- A 10,000-Year Food Fracas
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Kurlansky's first global food history since the best-selling Cod and Salt; the fascinating cultural, economic and culinary story of milk and all things dairy - with recipes throughout. According to the Greek creation myth, we are so much spilt milk; a splatter of the goddess Hera's breast milk became our galaxy, the Milky Way.
-
-
Horrible narration nearly kills Kurlansky
- By Scarlatti's Muse on 05-15-18
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Cod
- A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author Mark Kurlansky pleasantly surprised the world with this engaging best-seller that garnered rave reviews from critics and casual readers alike. His subject for this whimsical biography is the codfish, a species remarkable for its influence on humanity. Cod, Kurlansky argues, has driven economic, political, cultural and military thinking for centuries in the lands surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. Nations like England and Germany have waged wars for cod.
-
-
Skip the last few chapters
- By Tanya on 08-01-17
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Salt
- A World History
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as a currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is best selling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat.
-
-
More than SALT
- By Karen on 03-12-03
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
-
Beautiful, informative
- By harsh critic on 01-03-21
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Basque History of the World
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inhabiting the small corner where France meets Spain, the Basque speak their own language, Euskera. Evidence of their culture showed up as early as 218 BC, and now, with a population of 2.4 million, their influence on our world has been all-pervasive. In this "delectable portrait of an uncanny, indomitable nation," listeners will be enthralled as Kurlansky delves into the roots of an intriguing population, and shows us why they continue.
-
-
An eye opener that will break your heart
- By Perry on 12-18-04
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Big Oyster
- History on the Half Shell
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants, the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.
-
-
Ok, but not as good as his "Salt", or "Cod".
- By Frank H. on 03-22-17
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Untold History of the Potato
- By: John Reader
- Narrated by: Martin Hyder
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The potato - humble, lumpy, bland, familiar - is a decidedly unglamorous staple of the dinner table. Or is it? John Reader's narrative on the role of the potato in world history suggests we may be underestimating this remarkable tuber. From domestication in Peru 8,000 years ago to its status today as the world's fourth largest food crop, the potato has played a starring - or at least supporting - role in many chapters of human history.
-
-
Potato Story
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: John Reader
-
Consider the Fork
- A History of How We Cook and Eat
- By: Bee Wilson
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since prehistory, humans have braved the business ends of knives, scrapers, and mashers, all in the name of creating something delicious - or at least edible. In Consider the Fork, award-winning food writer and historian Bee Wilson traces the ancient lineage of our modern culinary tools, revealing the startling history of objects we often take for granted. Charting the evolution of technologies from the knife and fork to the gas range and the sous-vide cooker, Wilson offers unprecedented insights.
-
-
Intriguing history of everyday utensils
- By Nobody's business on 03-31-14
By: Bee Wilson
-
1968
- The Year That Rocked the World
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this monumental new book, award-winning author Mark Kurlansky has written his most ambitious work to date: a singular and ultimately definitive look at a pivotal moment in history.
-
-
Don't let this reader near a foreign word
- By Eugene on 05-22-04
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Food of a Younger Land
- The WPA's Portrait of Food in Pre-World War II America
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Kurlansky's new book takes us back to the food of a younger America. Before the national highway system brought the country closer together, before chain restaurants brought uniformity, and before the Frigidaire meant that frozen food could be stored for longer, the nation's food was seasonal, regional, and traditional. It helped to form the distinct character, attitudes, and customs of those who ate it.
-
-
Perhaps better in print.
- By Sparkly on 09-11-09
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Land
- How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous best-selling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.
-
-
Audiobook Version is the Best!
- By Richard Ames on 01-31-21
By: Simon Winchester
-
The Golden Thread
- How Fabric Changed History
- By: Kassia St. Clair
- Narrated by: Helen Johns
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefine human civilization - from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole).
-
-
Excellent for those interested in textiles
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-14-19
By: Kassia St. Clair
-
Sugar
- The World Corrupted: From Slavery to Obesity
- By: James Walvin
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did a simple commodity, once the prized monopoly of kings and princes, become an essential ingredient in the lives of millions, before mutating yet again into the cause of a global health epidemic? Prior to 1600, sugar was a costly luxury, the domain of the rich. But with the rise of the sugar colonies in the New World over the following century, sugar became cheap, ubiquitous, and an everyday necessity. Less than 50 years ago, few people suggested that sugar posed a global health problem.
-
-
I should have listened to the other reviews
- By L. Bergman on 12-31-18
By: James Walvin
-
Havana
- A Subtropical Delirium
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky presents an insider's view of Havana: the elegant, tattered city he has come to know over more than 30 years. Part cultural history, part travelogue, with recipes throughout, Havana celebrates the city's singular music, literature, baseball and food; its five centuries of outstanding neglected architecture; and its extraordinary blend of cultures.
-
-
Tough to get past impersonation of Spanish accent
- By IF on 01-02-20
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Mosquito
- A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator
- By: Timothy C. Winegard
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why was gin and tonic the cocktail of choice for British colonists in India and Africa? What does Starbucks have to thank for its global domination? What has protected the lives of popes for millennia? Why did Scotland surrender its sovereignty to England? What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution? The answer to all these questions, and many more, is the mosquito. Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling, The Mosquito is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquito’s reign through human history.
-
-
A Bit of A Disappointment
- By Scot on 08-26-19
-
A Place for Everything
- The Curious History of Alphabetical Order
- By: Judith Flanders
- Narrated by: Julia Winwood
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a New York Times best-selling historian comes the story of how the alphabet ordered our world. A Place for Everything is the first-ever history of alphabetization, from the Library of Alexandria to Wikipedia. The story of alphabetical order has been shaped by some of history's most compelling characters, such as industrious and enthusiastic early adopter Samuel Pepys and dedicated alphabet champion Denis Diderot. But though even George Washington was a proponent, many others stuck to older forms of classification.
By: Judith Flanders
-
The Triumph of Seeds
- How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life, supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and the humble peppercorn drove the Age of Discovery, so did coffee beans help fuel the Enlightenment and cottonseed help spark the Industrial Revolution. And from the fall of Rome to the Arab Spring, the fate of nations continues to hinge on the seeds of a Middle Eastern grass known as wheat.
-
-
Delightfully simplistic!
- By Adrian on 03-30-16
By: Thor Hanson
-
A Crack in the Edge of the World
- America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
-
-
This Book Delivers
- By Drayton on 10-31-05
By: Simon Winchester
Publisher's Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Cod and Salt, a definitive history of paper and the astonishing ways it has shaped today's world.
Paper is one of the simplest and most essential pieces of human technology. For the past two millennia, the ability to produce it in ever more efficient ways has supported the proliferation of literacy, media, religion, education, commerce, and art; it has formed the foundation of civilizations, promoting revolutions and restoring stability. One has only to look at history's greatest press run, which produced 6.5 billion copies of Mao zhuxi yulu, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Zedong), which doesn't include editions in 37 foreign languages and in brailleto appreciate the range and influence of a single publication, in paper. Or take the fact that one of history's most revered artists, Leonardo da Vinci, left behind only 15 paintings but 4,000 works on paper. And though the colonies were at the time calling for a boycott of all British goods, the one exception they made speaks to the essentiality of the material; they penned the Declaration of Independence on British paper. Now, amid discussion of "going paperless" and as speculation about the effects of a digitally dependent society grows rampant, we've come to a world-historic juncture.
Thousands of years ago, Socrates and Plato warned that written language would be the end of "true knowledge", replacing the need to excise memory and think through complex questions. Similar arguments were made about the switch from handwritten to printed books, and today about the role of computer technology. By tracing paper's evolution from antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on the contributions made in Asia and the Middle East, Mark Kurlansky challenges common assumptions about technology's influence, affirming that paper is here to stay. Paper will be the commodity history that guides us forward in the 21st century and illuminates our times.
More from the same
What listeners say about Paper
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C. D. Zuff
- 07-18-16
Flawed Recording Ruins a Fascinating History
Any additional comments?
I've read all of Kurlansky's books. All of them have been interesting and extremely enjoyable reads. Unfortunately Amazon has released a horribly flawed recording that skips and jumps, rendering the recording unlistenable. That this was allowed to be released in this condition is pathetic. I highly recommend the book. I can't recommend Amazon's shoddy release.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vicki
- 02-16-17
Very enjoyable
I almost didn't get this book because of the comments about a bad recording. Maybe they fixed whatever was wrong because I found nothing wrong with it at all. It was just an enjoyable history of paper and printing.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MickeyH
- 09-06-17
Cod and Salt are better
There were interesting histories throughout. I ceased trusting the authors ability to make a coherent argument during the discussion of the technological fallacy and change. He doesn't have an ear for science for example mistaking energy for power. Really basic. Needs a science and engineering editor. Missed many opportunities to make the story interesting. For example he states that DeFoe was literally pilloried but doesn't tell the whole story nor give a reference. I read the book on paper and listened to it. What shocked me was that he missed the importance of writing on paper to science and our engineered existence. This disproves both the fallacy and change arguments. Too bad. Cod and Salt were better. Much better.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Caroline Pufalt
- 08-03-16
Paper here to stay
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is not just a history of paper, but of communications, language, art , ecology and economy. As a very amateur artist I especially the art angle. Makes one appreciate this common material.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- G. Kapes
- 08-05-16
Quite disappointing
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
A different reader would be a good start.
Would you be willing to try another book from Mark Kurlansky? Why or why not?
Probably not.
What didn’t you like about Andrew Garman’s performance?
The entire performance is quite aggressive. Wrong for a book of this type. He's clearly a talented performer but didn't hit it right for this book.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Paper?
I'd reorganize the entire book.
Any additional comments?
Some great content presented in an unsatisfying manner.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ricemilk
- 10-06-16
Informative and more fun than I thought a book simply called paper would be
I enjoyed the ancient history part immensely.
The author hammers his thesis pretty constantly, though, and the modern history part therefore tends to repetitiveness.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joan
- 03-01-17
Disappointing
I got this book after enjoying the author's earlier work on Salt, but now I wonder how much I should have trusted that. This thin popularization is not really about paper so much as the history of writing and printing, and there are many other works that do that history better. This one is superficial and misleading about real history. But it gets worse. There are numerous downright errors, as well as several serious misunderstandings. It doesn't help that the narrator mispronounces many words and names.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas M. Olenski
- 03-10-17
Kurlansky Scores Again
If you could sum up Paper in three words, what would they be?
Amazing Thorough Research
What was one of the most memorable moments of Paper?
There was not just one moment. It was the continuous flow of the story and how he wrapped it up at the end. He includes so many parallel events and analysis.
What about Andrew Garman’s performance did you like?
He has a perfect voice. Clear and smooth. Just the right emphasis. When I speed it up, it does not lose clarity.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The destruction of libraries in the ancient word. As one country conquered another, they would destroy their library rather than read what they found. Horrible.
Any additional comments?
A wonderful author. This book reminded me why I loved the author's book SALT so much.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ronald
- 10-20-19
Paper?
Long some what organized rambling and musings about world history with occasional incites about the subject
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrew Weymouth
- 04-28-19
Kurlansky's Best
My favorite book that I have read from Mark Kurlansky. Expansive but incredibly readable, fascinating work.