Paper

Paging Through History

By: Mark Kurlansky

Narrated by: Andrew Garman

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.

©2016 Mark Kurlansky (P)2016 Recorded Books

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.

Kurlansky's Best

My favorite book that I have read from Mark Kurlansky. Expansive but incredibly readable, fascinating work.

A great book that changes how one sees the world.

The author brings to life the involvement of paper in ancient times from the chinese, arabic peoples, the conquest and debasement of the meso americans, history of devolopment of printing and publishing and techniques and art forms on through current times from many points of view.

He brings to mind the way that James A Michner developes an image that is made of brush strokes from different times and points of view through history that form an image with deeper meaning than the subject matter suggests. A masterful work, well presented, that has changed my understanding of the world i live in.

Wonderfully written story of the history.

Author is an excellent writer. I have enjoyed all of his books. The audio book is well done.

The intertwined relationship of culture and paper and the art of papermaking.

Really good coverage of the history of paper making. Perhaps a little heavy on the Asian roots. I would have liked to have heard the development of the modern industrial advancements that have drive mass-produced paper to its current state. There is a rich background in the development of the machinery for the industrial paper-age. Admittedly, I have worked in this industry my entire professional career as did my father so I am very self-interested but also believe there is learning in that avenue.

Overall, a good book with as much development of art as history.