Book description
A Best Book of the Year: Mother Jones, Bloomberg News, National Post, Kirkus Reviews
A consideration of all things paper—its invention that revolutionized human civilization; its thousand-fold uses (and misuses), proliferation, and sweeping influence on society; its makers, shapers, collectors, and pulpers—written by the admired cultural historian and author of…
Why read it?
1 author picked On Paper as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Basbanes’ book examines the many uses for paper.
He takes us along on a visit to papermaking family mills in villages in China and Japan where handmade paper is still produced in quantity, using two-thousand-year-old traditional methods and local plant materials. This is followed by a summary of the development of pulp paper in Asia, Islam, Italy, and Europe including the evolution of paper machines.
Much of the book is devoted to an extensive coverage of every possible use of paper, including disposable paper, paper cartridges for rifles, artillery wadding, cigarettes, passports, coded messages, hard copy secret documents, government archives,…
From John's list on the history of paper.
If you love On Paper...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Want books like On Paper?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 19 books like On Paper.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,340
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like On Paper, you might also like...
Foxfire in the Snow
It's a time of change, between magic and alchemy.
Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. At seventeen, an opportunity to attend an alchemical guild fair and secure an apprenticeship with the…
The Main Gate
Dr. Elise Marquette has spent years burying the past—until the past refuses to stay buried.
Hired to join Earth’s first interstellar contact team, she hopes the vastness of space will finally offer distance from the ghosts of war and the wounds left by a mother who never let her be…
