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On Paper
The Everything of its Two-Thousand-Year History
Paper: we use it so much we don’t realize how fundamental it is to our society. We don’t just record our thoughts on it, we base our currency on it, use it for entertainment and employ it for hygiene. These blinks of On Paper (2013) outline the history of this simple but amazing tool.
- Students of history, sociology or politics
- Anyone who has ever used toilet paper
- Origami fans
Nicholas Basbanes is a former literary editor of the Worcester Sunday Telegram. He’s written several books, including A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, and his work has been featured in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
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On Paper
The Everything of its Two-Thousand-Year History
- Read in 16 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 10 key ideas
Synopsis
Paper: we use it so much we don’t realize how fundamental it is to our society. We don’t just record our thoughts on it, we base our currency on it, use it for entertainment and employ it for hygiene. These blinks of On Paper (2013) outline the history of this simple but amazing tool.
Key idea 1 of 10
Paper, a dried composite of water and cellulose, was developed in China.
We rarely pause to remember that paper once revolutionized the world. But where does paper come from?
Most historians consider paper to have been developed in China in AD 105 by Cai Lun, a man who created tools and weapons for the royal court of Emperor Ho Ti. There is some dispute, however. Historian Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin argues that fragments found in 1957 in an ancient Chinese tomb are the oldest known pieces of paper – they date back to 140 BC. These specimens, along with others found in different locations in the region, suggest that paper changed over time.
So what exactly is paper? Paper is made from a mixture of water and bits of pulverized cellulose that are sieved and dried. The cellulose can be made from tree bark, old fishing nets, cloth, hemp from rope, cooked straw, boiled banana peels, crushed walnut shells or a number of other materials. In short, paper is made using a screen mold by combining water with any material containing cellulose fiber.
The process whereby cellulose fibers attach to each other through molecular cohesion is called hydrogen bonding. This bonding is what makes paper different from papyrus, though the word “paper” comes from papyrus.
Papyrus is made from dried pieces of stalk from the papyrus plant, a marsh reed. These bits of stalk can be attached to one another because of chemicals released by the plant.
Paper arrived in China at just the right time. Alternatives to paper, like silk and stone, were inconvenient because they were either too expensive or too cumbersome.
Key ideas in this title
- Paper, a dried composite of water and cellulose, was developed in China.
- The Japanese developed new uses for paper in a number of fields, including architecture and warfare.
- Paper spread from the Muslim world to Europe, then from Europe to the Americas and Australia.
- Paper is still used as currency because it is versatile, resilient, and deters counterfeiting.
- Americans began using wood in papermaking due to increased demand for paper.
- Paper is vital for personal hygiene.
- Paper is unlikely to die out, largely because of bureaucracy and cigarettes.
- Paper’s value can increase over time and it can be used to produce other work.
- Paper isn’t only important because of its utility – it’s beautiful, versatile, and always being reinvented.
- Final summary
