PDF/READ Fabric of Civilization

Fabric of Civilization

Description : From Neanderthal string to 3D knitting, an &#8220expansive&#8221 global history that highlights &#8220how textiles truly changed the world&#8221 (Wall Street Journal)The story of humanity is the story of textiles&#8212as old as civilization

itself. Since the first thread was spun, the need for textiles has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel synthesizes groundbreaking research from archaeology, economics, and science to reveal a surprising history. From Minoans exporting wool colored with precious purple dye to Egypt, to Romans arrayed in costly Chinese silk, the cloth trade paved the crossroads of the ancient world. Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo&#8217s David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.

Assiduously researched and deftly narrated, The Fabric of Civilization tells the story of the world&#8217s most influential commodity.&#8220We are taken on a journey as epic, and varying, as the Silk Road itself.&#8230 [The Fabric of Civilization is] like a swatch of a Florentine Renaissance brocade: carefully woven, the technique precise, the colors a mix of shade and shine and an accurate representation of the whole cloth.&quot&#8212New York Times&#8220Textile-making hasn&#8217t gotten enough credit for its own sophistication, and for all the ways it undergirds human technological innovation&#8212an error Virginia Postrel&#8217s erudite and complete book goes a long way toward correcting at last.&#8221&#8212Wired