SILK: A History In Three Metamorphoses

There is not just one story of silk. In silk is science, history and mythology. In silk is the future. Aarathi Prasad's book is a gorgeous new history weaving together the story of a unique material that has fascinated the world for millennia. It is both scientific and poetic at the same time. "The facts remained that the fine silk protein strands those caterpillars made from nothing more than a diet of Mulberry leaves are somehow extruded from their bodies as threads of extraordinary strength and beauty; that those threads possess remarkable characteristics that science has struggled to replicate. I spoke to engineers and biologists about new experiments being conducted with silk, designed to develop wonderful new applications in medicine and technology." Through the scientists who have studied silk, and the biology of the animals from which it has been drawn, Prasad explores the global history, natural history, and future of a unique material that has fascinated the world for millennia. She criss-crosses centuries and cultures to tell of the intrepid explorers, botany, scientists and entrepreneurs who were determined to unravel the secrets of silk production. For silk, prized for its lightness, luminosity, and beauty is also one of the strongest biological materials ever known. More than a century ago, it was used to make the first bulletproof vest, and yet science has barely even begun to tap its potential. As the technologies it has inspired - from sutures to pharmaceuticals, replacement body parts to holograms - continue to be developed in laboratories around the world, they are now also beginning to offer a desperately needed, sustainable alternative to the plastics choking our planet. The book is a cultural and biological history from the origins and ancient routes of silk to the biologists who learned the secrets of silk-producing animals, manipulating the habitats and physiologies of moths, spiders and molluscs. From the moths of China, Indonesia and India to the spiders of South America and Madagascar, to the silk-producing molluscs of the Mediterranean, here is an intoxicating mix of biography, intellectual history and science writing that brings to life the human obsession with silk. 359 page paperback with 16 pages of glorious colour photographs, other examples, botanical drawings and line art.