On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History (Ala Notable Books for Adults)

by Nicholas A. Basbanes | Nonfiction |
ISBN: 0307266427 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 12/31/2014
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, December 31, 2014
I got this hefty hardcover for Christmas, a "biography of things" about paper! It delves into the history of paper, which - as distinct from papyrus - was perfected by Han dynasty official Cai Lun in 105 AD. (The discussion of other forms of writing surfaces was also interesting, but of course the focus here is on paper.) There are details on how paper was made in those early times, including a visit by the author to various sites in China with ties to the process. I enjoyed the comments on modern-day artisans who make paper the old-fashioned way for its tactile and aesthetic qualities.

The author follows the spread of papermaking across Asia and Europe, and eventually into the paper mills of New England. Once it became an industry, those images of babbling brooks and fresh-cut bamboo change to scenes of mill-towns and increasingly-polluted rivers... ah, the price of progress.

The uses of paper also expanded, of course. From "something to write on" it has diversified into many, many uses, from the pretty-but-ecologically-questionable gift-wrap to tissues and toilet paper (which generate ecological concerns as well). There are discussions of recycling - and the practical problems of making usable paper from recycled materials.

And there are more far-flung paper-related chapters, dealing with "papers" as the "means of identification" (a nod to the "Man Without a Name" ruse from WWII fits in here), or with the use of paper copies as archives, or as artwork. Examples of archival collections abound - and make it all the more worrisome that the electronic age and its paper-less (if not completely paper-free) model is depriving us of a generation of documentation.

The paper-as-art segments are more cheering, with some truly lovely examples of origami and other paper-based sculptures - and an intriguing tie-in between origami and science, with the folding techniques being modified for use in getting a telescope to fold into a size suitable for launch into space.

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Saturday, February 27, 2016

Released 8 yrs ago (2/27/2016 UTC) at Nashua, New Hampshire USA

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I'm adding this book to the Biographies of Things bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop soon. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by katiesmama at Fort Myers, Florida USA on Saturday, March 12, 2016
I LOVE Nicholas Basbanes! I had planned to only take one book from MaryZee's Biography of Things bookbox but I couldn't resist this. Thank you, Gory!!! (And this book is most likely going to join my permanent collection, I hope that is all right.)

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