On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History, (Paperback)

from TJWilson

Intriguing history of paper. Would not have come across Dard Hunter or the evolution of paper from other writing surfaces otherwise. Also wouldn't haven't known about the actual consistency of paper and the interesting artisans that champion it. It is a good read for enthusiasts. Although, I do h...

from nlmii

I found this book interesting but hard to come back to. I could see it more as a college student's research source than what my 2015 self attempted to use as entertainment during his first year of bachelor's degree life. Both Nicholas and Mark Kurlansky's "Paper" are quite long, for paper is appa...

from jennybeast

I felt impatient about the introduction and the first chapter, but once Basbanes really gets going talking about the history of papermaking, I was hooked. I have to admit that I don't get as jazzed about currency or bureaucracy as some of the later chapters demand, but on the whole a very engagin...

from jcbrunner

Long awaited and long delayed, the final product does not match the high quality of Basbanes' usual output. This is due to two aspects of the book: The first one is the extreme focus on the United States. Part I tells the story how paper came to the United States and having contributed the world ...

from dono421846

Exhaustive review on paper, at times veering toward the pedantic. The best parts occur in the latter chapters when Basbanes interviews persons involved in some aspect of the paper industry. These sections, however engaging, appear to be opportunistically chosen, and do not cohere into a reasoned ...