Paper: Paging Through History

I am a huge Mark Kurlansky fan and he should be given the title of King of the micro-history. If you have read and enjoyed his previous books on SALT and COD this will not disappoint. As with his previous books, Kurlansky is not concentrating solely on Eurocentric history. Using paper as a he takes you on a tour of all history from pre-history, to the ancient civilizations like Egypt, the Mayans and into the other Empires, Middle Ages and on to the present. While Paper is the topic, it is a springboard to the history of expression, language, record keeping, and history itself. Kurlansky takes you on a bigger picture history tale that covers Cave writings, marks on sticks, papyrus, bricks, the Library of Alexandria, books, spread and development of language and writing, alphabets and on to modern communication. There is never a dull moment. The book flows wonderfully and the material is covered in just the right amounts. I did occasionally find myself stopping and going off on a wikipedia tangent to find out more information on various topics. This book will appeal to everyone from the armchair historian, history students and even academics. Nothing is "dumbed down" but everything is explained such that a lay person would find it understandable. The audible version is truly fantastic. The narrator, Andrew Garmon has no discernible accent. He has read a number of historical works and is spot-on in pronunciation and tempo. The narrator fits the book well. As much as I like the audible version, I think it is best when purchased together with the book for reference.

This was a good read but i liked Kurlansky's other books Salt, Salmon and especially Cod better than this book.

Its invention lost in the mists of time, the humble sheet of paper was once a groundbreaking, world-changing technology. We aren't accustomed to thinking of paper as "high-tech," and yet its use was once a peerless indicator of civilization. Paper lies at the root of record-keeping, and that is the *sine qua non* for complex societies. Mark Kurlansky has superlative talent for presenting history in context, not only of its own time, but how the times and cultures he describe support what came later, what we use today. That expanded context makes a basic technology—making and using paper—come alive as a sophisticated invention. Before paper, and usually long after it, parchment was the quick medium for records. Think about that, Kurlansky bids us—to make a record, we needed only to wait until the animal whose skin we want to use is full grown, has been butchered and skinned, and has had its hide tanned, scraped thin, and bleached. No wonder records were routinely erased from parchment to provide a palimpsest for new writings. Of course, there were older modes of writing, in mediums like fired clay and stone. But until the advent of paper, nothing could be recorded lightly, spur-of-the-moment. No jottings, no idle doodles. No revisable blueprints or scratch engineering diagrams. Gutenberg's invention waited on a disposable medium, and literacy, the expectation that everyone would be able to read and write and freely trade ideas, waited on Gutenberg. As I read, I learned about an invention that had been created over and over, wherever human society advanced far enough to require it. "Real" paper composed of pressed, matted, randomly-oriented plant fibers has had its substitutes: tree bark, crushed and rolled to make it pliable; long stems of papyrus or young bamboo, split and opened to provide a strip of writing surface; silk fabric; thin plates of slate or metal; whole leaves; slats or thin shingles of wood. All were used, along with parchment and stone; but nowhere did reading and writing become part of everyday life until paper was widely available. "If you can read this, thank a teacher," reads a popular bumper sticker. No, this book argues, if you can read it, thank Gutenberg. And for Gutenberg, thank the invention of paper.

Always enjoy his books. Started with Salt A true researcher with talent for words. I reread his sometimes. Highly recommend

I have read and enjoyed several of Mark Kurlansky’s earlier books especially Salt. However, I am somewhat disappointed with Paper. The writing and organization is just not up to par when compared with his earlier works. The book appears to be well researched but the way the research was presented was often confusing. Though superficially this is a book about the history of paper, it’s more a history of written language and technology. Mr. Kurlansky spoke more in-depth about language and the development of various systems of writing then he did on the methods of paper making. Throughout the book Mr. Kurlansky kept wandering off to talk about related subjects, such as the invention of the printing press. He would eventually wander back to disclose how the subject matter was related to paper. This writing style gave the book a slap-dash feeling to it. It’s almost like he had made a list of all the things he wanted to research and then somehow worked out a way of including those things in the book. Although the history is presented in more or less chronological order, there were instants that were baffling. For example, when he was discussing the beginning of the Reconquista of Spain in the thirteenth century, he pops in Isabella of Castile of the fifteenth century as an example of Christian fanatics that were expelling Muslims and Jews from the Iberian peninsula. Granted she may have fit the bill, but it would have been far more fitting to have given an example of a Christian leader that actually lived during the time period he was currently discussing. Another thing that I found disconcerting was his apparent confusion over geography. For instance, in his discussion about Muslim paper mills he cites at location 1028 of the e-book that “A third Muslim mill was built in Tihamah, the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula along the Red Sea. . . .” The last time (which was quite recently) I looked at a map of the Arabian Peninsula the Red Sea was on the Arabian Peninsula’s west coast. Even if you were to allow that Tihamah is on the east coast of the Red Sea, the way Mr. Kurlansky worded the above sentence leads one to believe he seriously believed that the region of Tihamah was on the Peninsula’s southeast coast. Was he really that confused or was he holding his map upside down? The more I read, the more I was getting a “Gee, I never heard that before, I wonder what others have to say about that” feeling about what he was writing. When it got to the point where I was spending more time fact checking then I was actually reading I decided enough was enough.

For the second time in history, according to the author Mark Kurlansky, packaging has today overtaken communication as the number one use for paper. The first time was in ancient China when paper was used mostly for wrapping. But for most of its history, paper has been used to communicate ideas, facts, and stories so it's no surprise Kurlansky devotes as much space to printing and writing as he does to paper itself. There were several critical points in the history of paper and the first isn't even about paper itself, but about papyrus, the plant found in Egypt that could be unfurled to use as a writing medium. Other plants provided bark that could be turned into something like paper, but the results weren't quite as good as papyrus. And then there was vellum, the pounded hide of animals, a material so luxurious that even after paper and printing came of age, vellum was long considered the only material fit for important documents--it's why we say a "sheepskin" to refer to a diploma, for instance. Paper really came into its own in two stages: first came rag paper and France dominated the industry. It was labour intensive and the material was in such high demand that used clothes were hunted by rag traders. Second came the discovery of cheap chemical processes that made possible the use of wood pulp instead of rags. After this, printing and newspapers became so cheap that the cost of the paper became merely incidental. And while electronic media have become the primary conduit of information, it seems people still love to hold books and magazines in their hands. Paper offers a much higher resolution than does even the best screens. It's worth splurging on the hardback for this one. It's a beautifully crafted book, a throwback to how they were published at the beginning of the twentieth century. Vincent Poirier, Quebec City

While the title topic of this book is "Paper," its scope encompasses not just the history of material on which people write and print but the earth-shaking consequences of recorded communications. In his usual readable style, Kurlansky makes clear the debt we owe to the Chinese and Muslims who developed the arts of paper making, writing, and printing when most Europeans were still living in caves or mired in the Dark Ages. And he does not overlook the remarkable independent achievements of meso-Americans before the disaster of the Spanish Conquest all but destroyed their culture. In short, this is a book about more than paper; it is a brief history of how we became civilized. Oh, and I enjoyed reading a few tidbits about the Curtis paper mill down the hill from where I grew up and from which we received scraps for school projects not knowing what a gem that mill was.

As Mark Kurlansky did with previous books like "Cod" and Salt", he has done so again in "Paper"....taking one subject and going into it in great detail. Not surprisingly, the author has come up with another winner this time, as paper is one of those subjects that is rife with so many different angles in its long history. Beginning with China and moving westward, Kurlansky takes us on a journey over centuries, finding new developments in paper making at almost every step. What enlightened me most, I think, was how rags were so integral in making paper for years on end and that paper made from wood was not common until the mid-nineteenth century. And a revealing fact...the United States "Declaration of Independence" was not printed on American paper, though it most likely could have been. What I love about "Paper" are those many angles I alluded to earlier. Through this book, we experience facets not only of how paper is made and its many sources but the usage of paper and how it is changing in the modern world. Will we ever not have paper around? As Kurlansky quotes, "diapers and paper bags are recession-proof", so I guess we have an answer to that. This is a terrific read and a great addition to our knowledge of paper and I highly recommend it. One final thought...I wonder how many people read this book on their kindle? Not this reader...paper for me!