Wednesday, June 25, 2014

On Paper: the Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History

On Paper: the Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History
 By Nicholas A. Basbanes
 Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. 430 pgs. Nonfiction

Nicholas Basbanes cultural history of paper considers everything about paper from its invention to the Pentagon papers. He explores the technology of paper, paper as art form and hygienic necessity, paper as currency and passport. He travels to China and Japan to see the creation of handmade papers, to paper mills and spy agencies uncovering how the most valuable of papers are created and destroyed. In archives and museums he explores documents and diagrams that have changed history and made our technological society possible. This is an excellent, fascinating book best appreciated by dedicated nonfiction readers. SH

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