Publishers Weekly
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Journalist and unapologetic bibliophile Basbanes (A Splendor of Letters) sets out to explore the nature of paper and returns with an absolutely fascinating tale. Told in an engaging, accessible manner, his coverage of the topic is a wide-ranging, freewheeling, authoritative look at one of society's most ubiquitous products, from its origins in China nearly two millennia ago through its methodical spread across the world. Basbanes digs into the means by which paper is made and recycled, manufactured and repackaged, created for mass consumption and manipulated as art. He examines the implications of its cultural uses-in historical documents, architectural drawings, government paperwork, currency-and in doing so reveals how many roles, directly and indirectly, paper plays in our lives. Basbanes leaves no page unturned, and finishes with a poignant story of how a paper trail keeps the legacy of 9/11 fresh and has led to the further identification of some victims. Through interviews, personal visits, and extensive research, he has created an engrossing, essential book that no book lover should be without. The wealth of information Basbanes includes barely scratches the surface, but it whets the appetite and forces us to rethink how we view this versatile material. Agent: Glen Hartley, Writers Representatives (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Self-proclaimed bibliophile Basbanes (About the Author: Inside the Creative Process, 2010, etc.) proves a delightful and intrepid guide in this capacious history of paper. As the author quickly discovered, paper is more than merely a surface for print; it is an indispensible product with connections to war (paper cartridges changed 17th-century firearms), health (tissues, toilet paper and disposable bandages) and politics (printed documents were central to the Stamp Act, Watergate, and countless other laws and scandals). Just as we are "awash in a world of paper," Basbanes writes, "we are awash in a world of paper clichs": "a house of cards," a "paper thin margin," "a tissue of lies," "pulp fiction," etc. Identity is confirmed by showing one's "papers," and we ascertain truth by comparing whatever is "on paper" to reality. Basbanes' research took him around the world: to China, where papermaking first began nearly 2,000 years ago; Japan, where artisans still practice traditional methods; and across America, including the Crane Paper mill, manufacturers of paper for all American currency, the Kimberly-Clark company, which took their World War I overstock of cotton surgical dressings and invented Kotex, and publishing-stock maker P.H. Glatfelter, which is countering the rise of the e-book by providing paper for postage stamps, Hallmark cards and tea bags. Central to Basbanes' history are people--artists, crafters, curators, librarians, origami makers, writers and recipients of letters--and surprising revelations. In 14th-century Europe, for example, the invention of the spinning wheel led to an increase in linen production, which led to an increase in rags, which lowered the price of paper, which caused Johannes Gutenberg to see that investing in mechanical printing would be a good idea. Only several hundred years later was paper more cheaply made from wood pulp. As his impressive bibliography and notes section suggest, Basbanes has investigated seemingly every detail of paper's 2,000-year history. A lively tale told with wit and vigor.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Like silk and gunpowder, paper was invented by the ancient Chinese. In this peripatetic account of all things paper, from the ancients to the present, journalist Basbanes (Every Book Its Reader) follows paper's trail as it slowly reached the West by way of the Silk Road, arriving in Europe almost 1,000 years after its invention (it didn't get to England until 1494). But Basbanes isn't just interested in paper's conventional and specialized history. His aim is to show how the material has penetrated all aspects of our lives (books, stamps, money, blueprints, packaging, and so on). Each episodic chapter takes the author on visits to the people who paper our lives, from industrial titans to craftspeople rediscovering ancient modes of making paper to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at ground zero tasked with preserving a record of that single day. VERDICT An unhurried book that will be enjoyed not only by bibliophiles, librarians, and archivists but by many readers engaged by the study of the past and present.-Stewart Desmond, New York (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

Noteworthy for his written works on books and their readers, journalist Basbanes has produced a significant treatment of paper as a phenomenon. Its subtitle notwithstanding, the book is a pleasant, personal survey and travelogue treating the history of paper--its invention, production, and travel through the centuries, common and special uses, and current resurgence of its role in society. The 370 pages of illustrated text divide into 18 chapters with creative titles and of varying lengths, grouped in three parts. The basic facts one would expect to find are there, especially concerning changing technology and innovative applications. In most chapters the author and his wife's encounters with crafts folk, entrepreneurs, forensic specialists, and scholars enrich the work, drawing general readers into an appreciation of the role of paper in the past two millennia. Like the illustrations and case studies, the arrangement of the chapters seems a bit idiosyncratic, if entertaining. Thus, one moves from facial tissue to ammunition cartridges, from money and stamps to passports and diaries, and from archival documentation to 9/ll fragments. The author's skill ties all this together in a way that keeps the reader reading. This beautifully produced book includes notes (some discursive). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. D. G. Davis Jr. emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* Basbanes' renowned books about books, from A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passions for Books (1995) to Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World (2005), are shaped by his investigative journalist's curiosity and skill as well as a penchant for the underappreciated. In his latest lassoing inquiry, he unfolds the two-thousand-year story of paper. Civilizations have been built on paper, from sacred texts to laws to business records to social documents to art and literature. Paper has also been used to make everything from gun cartridges to cigarettes, money to toilet paper. Basbanes begins in China, paper's birthplace, and follows paper's migration east to Japan, where it became integral to architecture, and along the Silk Road to the Arab world, then onto Europe, charting how radically it transformed each culture. In newly forged America, he tracks the rapid coalescence of newspapers and the forest-devouring paper industry. Combining crisp technical explanations with vivid historical and contemporary profiles, he visits traditional hand-papermakers and tours tree-free paper plants, including Crane and Company, which has been making the paper for American currency since 1879, and Marcal, which recycles junk mail. Basbanes also marvels over the historical significance of letters, diaries, and notebooks, takes mischievous pleasure in paper capers, explores the National Archives, home of 80-billion pieces of paper and counting, and speaks with Harvard library director Robert Darnton about print's future. Every facet of this celebration of paper is engrossing and thought-provoking, leading up to the dramatic conclusion, in which Basbanes recounts deeply affecting stories about the paper rain that covered New York City on 9/11. Paper, Basbanes avers, is nothing less than an embodiment and conveyance of humanity.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2014 Booklist