White Magic
The Age of Paper
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
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. In the shape of bills, banknotes and accounting books it was indispensible to the economy. As forms and files it was essential to bureaucracy. 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. His key witnesses are the works of Rabelais and Grimmelshausen, Balzac and Herman Melville, James Joyce and Paul Valéry.
Müller writes not only about books, however: he also writes about pamphlets, playing cards, papercutting and legal pads. We think we understand the ?Gutenberg era?, but we can understand it better when we explore the world that underpinned it: the paper age.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
M ller, an honorary professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin, has written a history of paper that makes for an incredibly rich and thought-provoking reading experience for those who have the dedication and determination to get through it. The author tracks paper's development from China through the Arab world and into Europe, examining both its development as a product and its diffusion, in a multitude of forms, into Western society. Eschewing a comparison between the "Gutenberg era" (the age of the printing press) and our digital era, M ller instead looks at paper itself in order to evaluate today's shift toward digitization. We also live not just in the Gutenberg era, but the broader "Paper Age," and M ller concludes that this age is not over yet. He supports historical facts with close literary analyses of works by writers such as Cervantes, James Joyce, and Paul Val ry. By nature, this book elevates the reading experience, bringing the physical sheets of paper to the forefront of the reader's consideration. Although the term white magic is not an explicit theme of the book, the title feels appropriate; the academic tone and density of the text may put off most non-scholarly readers, but M ller's work leaves the reader admiring something that feels magical.
