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Description of  The Paper Trail: An Unexpected History of a Revolutionary Invention

A sweeping, richly detailed history that tells the fascinating story of how paperthe simple Chinese invention of two thousand years agowrapped itself around our world, humankinds most momentous ideas imprinted on its surface. The emergence of paper in the imperial court of Han China brought about a revolution in the transmission of knowledge and ideas, allowing religions, philosophies and propaganda to spread with ever greater ease. The first writing surface sufficiently cheap, portable and printable for books, pamphlets and journals to be mass-produced and distributed widely, paper opened the way for an unprecedented, ongoing dialogue between individuals and between communities across continents, oceans and time. Read more