Fabric of Civilization
Ratings2
Average rating4
15
Ratings2
Average rating4
From Paleolithic flax to 3D knitting, a global history of textiles and the world they made The story of humanity is the story of textiles -- as 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's 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's most influential commodity.
Reviews with the most likes.
Fascinating History. Postrel does a remarkable job of looking at the various people and technologies of making (primarily clothing) textiles throughout history and even into the future. She largely centers around the various types of entities involved in the work, from the source materials to the weavers to the sellers and a few other types, and shows how each contributed in some way to the overall history and to where we are now. Several tidbits I didn't know, including just how much cotton yarn is in an average pair of jeans, and a few that sound plausible, but which I'd need to research a bit more (such as claims about textiles being an early form of computing). At least one passage in particular actually brought to mind the James McAvoy / Angelina Jolie / Morgan Freeman movie Wanted, where looms and weaving play a central part in the mythos. Very much recommended.
Much like the book about colour and paint, that I recently read, I very much enjoyed this.
- textile changed the world and was a catalyst for trade and society. Spent a lot of time reflecting on the Systems and significance on a few long walks around the lake.
There's just something wonderful about a non-fiction book where the writer is passionate about the subject matter, wants to make sure everybody understands just how awesome it is, and can write in an engaging manner.
Every chapter in this book could spawn several books of its own.
This is a relatively short work (250 pages plus glossary and notes) so you do get a sense of speed-running through the history of human civilization, plucking out times and places as they relate to the topic under discussion.
And yet so much is crammed in!
Chapter structure discusses the history of various elements of fabric production (as well as trading and consumption) and alongside it, the leaps and bounds made for human civilization by the manufacturing techniques, technology and social infrastructure such material production inspired.
I was as fascinated by the future of fabric, the windows into where design and manufacturing may go next, as I was by the details of its past I previously had no clue about.
As much engineering and invention, as much science, as history (not all of it pretty, of course).
I always love hearing about those moments where the sharing of knowledge (maybe previously hoarded or rediscovered or developed and open source) / knowledge transmission (part of a long tradition that miraculously survived to present day) is crucial for the future of crafts and technology.
We need that message out there.
Cons?
I'm biased to plant-based fibres, I can't get too ecstatic about petroleum-based polymers and microfibers given our current understanding of the environmental costs.
Bit of a crime that all the photos and image reproductions are black and white.
Disgusting details of reconstructing the manufacturing process of the original Tyrian purple. Poor murex!
⚠️animal death, slavery, suicide
