Nicholas A. Basbanes is an award-winning investigative journalist and was literary editor of the Worcester Sunday Telegram. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Smithsonian, and he is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. Basbanes lives in North Grafton, Massachusetts, with his wife.
“Fascinating. . . . Reminds us that bound up in the most mundane of
objects, there is the potential for the deepest of human
expression.” —Mother Jones
“I will confess to being an enormous Basbanes fan, but this volume
may well be his best.” —Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg News
“Buoyant, encyclopedic. . . . Celebrates paper in all its forms.”
—The New Yorker
"A prodigious and endlessly fascinating tome. . . . In Basbanes’
capable hands, the assembled elements become amusing, fascinating,
and at times profound. He is the bibliophile’s Bill Bryson and
takes the reader on a journey of discovery about an object we take
for granted but cannot do without." —Santa Fe New Mexican"Clear and
necessary. . . . Basbanes is a power hitter whose grand slam brings
home other recent appreciators of paper." —The Chronicle of Higher
Education
“Fascinating. . . . Nicholas Basbanes is an especially congenial
writer, a quality he displayed memorably in A Gentle Madness. . . .
He does it again most pleasurably in On Paper, a wide-ranging
investigation into the ‘everything’ of that ubiquitous and
indispensable construction of cellulose fibers whose history
paralleled—and made possible—the rise of civilization.” —The Dallas
Morning News
“Basbanes makes you love books.” —Scott Turow
“As Basbanes’s book shows, paper, that most remarkable technology,
has always been the most effective medium for capturing what is
both practical and passionate about being human.” —The Wilson
Quarterly
“[Basbanes] has poured his heart and soul into this splendid
survey of a beautiful human invention.” —National Post
“Fascinating. . . . [A] wide-ranging, engaging and enchanting
book.” —Tulsa World
“An erudite, mesmerizing story about how something we consider so
everyday has shaped our lives. In our age of supposedly dying
print, Basbanes’s book is at once a compelling scholarly
achievement and a provocative invitation to reconsider and
celebrate what is truly one of the wonders of the world, that
fragile yet enduring skin upon which humanity’s knowledge and
vision are tattooed.” —Bradford Morrow, author of Trinity
Fields
“A wonderful, fascinating and timely book on a subject some have
prematurely declared obsolete. Basbanes reminds us of the vital
role the invention of paper has played through the centuries in the
dissemination of knowledge and ideas. His stories that run the
gamut, from the way paper is made to a poignant sheet of
paper floating down to the sidewalk on September 11, 2001. Not to
be missed.” —Meryle Secrest, author of Duveen
“Encyclopedic. [Basbanes] writes informatively about everything
from paper trails to red tape, from the technical issues of
papermaking to the high art of origami. . . . Readers will likely
finish On Paper newly appreciative of not only paper’s
flexibility and function but also its ubiquity. They will also
likely conclude: A paperless society? Not in my children’s
children’s lifetime.” —BookPage
“An absolutely fascinating tale. . . . An engrossing, essential
book that no book lover should be without.” —Publishers Weekly
(starred)
“A delightful and intrepid guide in this capacious history of
paper. . . . A lively tale told with wit and vigor.” —Kirkus
Reviews (starred)
“Every facet of this celebration of paper is engrossing and
thought-provoking. . . . Paper, Basbanes avers, is nothing less
than an embodiment and conveyance of humanity.” —Booklist
(starred)
“Pretty much irresistible.” —Library Journal
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