The Book Prize Index

Paper: Paging through History

Mark Kurlansky

From the New York Times best-selling author of Cod and Salt, a definitive history of paper and the astonishing ways it has shaped today’s world. Paper is one of the simplest and most essential pieces of human technology. For the past two millennia, the ability to produce it in ever more efficient ways has supported the proliferation of literacy, media, religion, education, commerce, and art; it has formed the foundation of civilizations, promoting revolutions and restoring stability. By tracing paper’s evolution from antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on the contributions made in Asia and the Middle East, Mark Kurlansky challenges common assumptions about technology’s influence, affirming that paper is here to stay. Paper will be the commodity history that guides us forward in the twenty-first century and illuminates our times.

HistoryHistory · medium confidenceHistory81 signalsLlm Classifier: History -> HistoryKeyword Classifier: Arts & Criticism -> Arts & CriticismKeyword Classifier: Religion -> ReligionScience & DiscoveryTechnology, Computing & AIArt, Music & PerformanceEducation & Universities

Award History

0 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionMajor2017LonglistOfficial source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    Paper’s evolution and production efficiencies have supported literacy and media across two millennia, shaping civilizations; the common assumption about technology’s influence is challenged, and paper will remain foundational in the twenty-first century.

    Model confidence 48%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 46%.