White Magic: The Age of Paper
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.45 (603 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0745672531 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Scholarly but very readable history of paper A. J Terry White Magic is a history of the evolution of paper from its roots in China, around 105 AD, to the present. It discusses the details of paper production in various eras, the ease and speed of communication that paper has enabled, and the ways in which such communication has transformed society. As you might expect, the main focus is on publishing, but some other uses of paper are discussed, such as playing cards. White Magic is scholarly, not fluffy like some popular histories on comparatively narrow subjects, but it is engaging and rewarding to read. Its tend. History of the Age of Paper in Europe and How It Was Reflected in Literature. Lothar Muller’s familiarity with both academia, as a literary scholar and professor, and the press, as an editor and journalist, form an interesting symbiosis in “White Magic: The Age of Paper”, a literary-historical work of the Age of Paper in Europe and, most particularly, how that Age saw, and sees, itself. This is a history of paper in the West, as it explains “how paper became a basic element of Western civilization and how it came to occupy such a key position.” But Muller focuses on “the question of what modern Europ. A pretty decent thesis on paper and it's relationship to Europe/Germany D. Matlack Overall I felt that Muller gives a fairly decent overview of the history of paper, but I found it odd where and which areas he highlighted and which areas he pulls his emphasis. For example he glosses over the origins of paper in China in favor of spending a great deal of time in its development and use in the middle East. Then he skips ahead to its development and uses in Europe but barely touches the relationship of paper in the Americas and elsewhere in the world. Indeed, even in his European endeavor he focuses largely on paper in Germany (makes sense sin
In the shape of bills, banknotes and accounting books it was indispensible to the economy. As forms and files it was essential to bureaucracy. Müller writes not only about books, however: he also writes about pamphlets, playing cards, papercutting and legal pads. His key witnesses are the works of Rabelais and Grimmelshausen, Balzac and Herman Melville, James Joyce and Paul Valéry. Today, with the proliferation of digital devices, paper may seem to be a residue of the past, but Müller shows that the humble technology of paper is in many ways the most fundamental medium of the modern world.. As letters it became the setting for the invention of the modern soul, and as newsprint it became a stage for politics. In this brilliant new book Lothar Müller describes how paper made its way from China through the Arab world to Europe, where it permeated everyday life in a variety of formats from the thirteenth century onwards, and how the paper technology revolution of the nineteenth century paved the way for the creation of the modern daily press. Paper is older than the printing press, and even in its unprinted state it was the great network medium behind the emergence of modern civilization. We think we understand the ?Gutenberg era?, but we can understand it better when we e
It explores paper in its materiality, but also as a source of inspiration which has shaped the history of knowledge and creativity. It is a delight to read."Jeremy Adler, King’s College London"Müller’s history of paper is original, engaging and breathtakingly erudite. In tracing paper’s vital role in the development of human civilisation, the author also argues for its continued importance in the digital age."Carolin Duttlinger, Wadham College, Oxford"Lothar Müller set out dazzling new insights into the creation of our world, building on Harold Innis’ work on the long and complex emergence of paper. Instead, it is an extremely versatile substance—one whose uses and forms shape human thought and be