Silk A world history

Aarathi Prasad

Book - 2024

"In a gorgeous history that spans continents and millennia, Aarathi Prasad weaves together the complex story of the queen of fabrics. Through the scientists who have studied silk, and the biology of the animals from which it has been drawn, Prasad explores the global, natural, and cultural history (and future) of a unique material that has fascinated the world for thousands of years"--

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2nd Floor New Shelf 746.0439/Prasad (NEW SHELF) Checked In
Subjects
Published
New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers [2024]
Language
English
Main Author
Aarathi Prasad (author)
Edition
First edition
Item Description
Includes index.
Physical Description
viii, 293 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
ISBN
9780063160255
9780063381162
  • Introduction
  • Part 1. Moths
  • 1. The Wondrous Transformation
  • 2. Inner Workings
  • 3. Bombyx
  • 4. The Long Road
  • 5. Saturniidae
  • 6. In Ambon
  • 7. Indus
  • 8. Antheraea
  • 9. Muga
  • 10. The Works of Industry of All Nations
  • 11. Wardle
  • Part 2. Silken Shells, Golden Orbs
  • 12. Coquillages à Soie
  • 13. A Tangle of Threads
  • 14. SLKY
  • 15. Italo
  • 16. Pinnidae
  • 17. Upon the Usefulness of the Silk of Spiders
  • 18. Araneae
  • 19. The House of the Spiders
  • 20. Nephila
  • Part 3. Reinvention
  • 21. The Khan's Underclothes
  • 22. Conscription
  • 23. Tombstone
  • 24. Mimic Men
  • 25. The Silks of Nearly Anything
  • 26. Smarter Silk
  • Acknowledgments
  • List of Illustrations
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Over time, many individuals and cultures have independently discovered how to make silk, according to this illuminating history from bioarcheologist Prasad (In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room). The fabric, prized for its beauty, is also one of the strongest biologically produced materials; it was even used to make the first bulletproof vest (for Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who fatefully neglected to wear it on the day of his assassination in 1914). Most famously harvested from a species of silkworm (a moth in its larval stage, attempting to spin a cocoon) that was domesticated in ancient China, silk can also be derived from spiders and mollusks. In a narrative keenly focused on scientific fieldwork and invention, Prasad tells the story of silk's development mostly through profiles of naturalists and detailed descriptions of archaeological finds. Subjects include Dutch scientist-illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian, who in 1699 traveled to Suriname and collected specimens of silk-producing moth species that later helped Holland compete with China's carefully guarded silk industry, and the 20th-century archaeological discovery of ancient Rome's reliance on mollusk-silk. Prasad concludes by spotlighting current innovations in medicine and tech involving silk, and points to the fabric's radical potential in a world that wants to ween itself off plastics. Thanks to her elegant prose, the book's deeply informed scientific explanations are charming and accessible. Readers will revel in this exquisite deep dive. (Apr.)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

The past and future of a coveted fabric. Geneticist Prasad, author of In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room, delivers a vibrant cultural and scientific history of an amazing natural fiber: silk. From a diet of mulberry leaves, the caterpillars that Linnaeus called Bombyx mori extrude threads that form a cocoon, protecting them as they transform into moths. The extraordinary properties of this thread became the basis of cloth-making by Neolithic Chinese farmers, who bred and harvested the silkworms and also used the eggs, larvae, pupae, and feces in traditional medicines, dyes, fertilizers, and flavoring. However, silk-making did not originate only in China. Archaeological expeditions to India have found evidence of silk in artifacts made between 2450 and 2000 B.C.E.--not from Bombyx mori, but from other distinct types of moths across the subcontinent. Besides tracing the earliest evidence of silk production, Prasad creates richly detailed portraits of the many 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century naturalists who devoted themselves to investigating the mysterious process of metamorphosis, the anatomy of silkworms, and the properties of silk threads, making intrepid journeys in search of caterpillars. Although prized for the shimmering luster that made it a hugely profitable commodity in international trade, silk--especially spider silk--is also extremely strong, making it useful for suturing and dressing wounds and for military use, including creating crosshairs, parachutes, and bullet-proof vests. The forcible silking of spiders gave rise to various contraptions whereby spiders would be immobilized and stimulated to produce extrusions 52 times finer and "nearly three times stronger, more elastic, and more durable than the moth's." Prasad reports much scientific interest in producing synthetic spider silk proteins that could offer a "biodegradable antidote to plastic"; thus far, it has been a daunting challenge. The book is generously illustrated with scientific drawings and photos. A colorful, wholly absorbing narrative tapestry. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.