Paper: Paging Through History

In some ways, Paper is exactly what it purports to be: a history of paper. That said, I would argue that it is a history of a specific type of paper and, more generally, a specific use for that paper. Which is to say that Paper is as much a history of the written word as the product itself. Much like The Silk Roads, it begins by tracing the history of early writing from east to west, for it was the Chinese and then the Mesopotanians who developed the earliest writing systems and turned natural products (barks and animal skins, chiefly) into materials for holding the recorded word. In this way, it is the history of writing, of words on paper, than the product itself.

Mark Kurlansky has reconstructed an incredibly precise history, from those barks and skins through the advent of printing, onto the production process of paper itself and then forays briefly, ever so briefly, into other uses for paper. This last is where my chief complaint lies. When thinking of all the uses for paper, writing paper – whether newsprint, book pages, or high end stationary – is but one product that comes to mind. I love books and newspapers, but where would we be without toilet paper?? (Or, let's be honest, ladies, certain feminine hygiene products that rely on paper or paper derivatives as crucial components.) All told, and among their myriad uses, paper products are used for packaging, for hygiene, for eating on the go, for entertainment (or they were, in the heyday of paper dolls), and for cleaning sticky fingers.

Kurlansky glosses over each of these, failing to mention some altogether, and devoting the most time to paper clothes and paper money. Even these do not receive the amount of attention I would have liked. I would have been interested in a broader history of paper as it transitioned from a single use product (or maybe it never was that) to having multiple uses across different societies. 

I recognize that I may be asking too much here – obviously this history of paper and writing and printing is its own volume, as Kurlansky has proven, and I have no reason to doubt that these other things, properly researched, would be their own volumes as well.  In fairness to Kurlansky, I should note that my disappointment no doubt stems in part from the incredibly high bar he set with The Food of a Younger Land, which is simply perfection.  In the end, though, I couldn’t help but feel that Paper either 1) didn’t live up to its potential or 2) should have had a different title. It is the history of paper, but specific paper for a specific use.