Overview

There is not just one story of silk. In silk is science, history and mythology. In silk is the future. Aarathi Prasad’s Silk is a gorgeous new history weaving together the story of a unique material that has fascinated the world for millennia. 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. 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. Prasad's Silk 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. Because there is more than one silk, there is more than one story of silk. More than one road, more than one people who discovered it, and wove its threads. From the moths of China, Indonesia and India to the spiders of South America and Madagascar, to the silk-producing molluscs of the Mediterranean, Silk is a book rich in the passionate connections made by women and men of science to the diversity of the animal world. It is an intoxicating mix of biography, intellectual history and science writing that brings to life the human obsession with silk.

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9780008451844

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Reviews

PRAISE FOR AARATHI PRASAD'S LIKE A VIRGIN 'A hugely successful braid of reproductive biology, history of science, and politics, this is science writing that will keep you up past your bedtime' New Scientist 'Prasad's first book is a fascinating, topical and hugely readable investigation' Metro 'Fiery and provocative' Sunday Times 'Prasad's humorous and anecdote-laden approach sweeps the reader along' BBC Focus 'Think of her as the female equivalent of Brian Cox making science accessible for the masses ... Entertaining and provocative, this promises to change the way you think about sex' Stylist 'Aarathi Prasad has travelled far into the mysterious land of human and animal conception and come back with extraordinary stories of chimaeras and parthenogens, of cannibal sharks in the womb, of pseudosperm and the prospect of birth without pregnancy. A fascinating book' Matt Ridley, bestselling author of The Red Queen 'Think you know the birds and the bees? Prasad's whip-smart, eye-popping book takes us on a journey into the heart of gender and reproduction-a journey whose strange history is matched only by its unexpected future' David Eagleman, Neuroscientist, Author of Incognito and Sum

PRAISE FOR LIKE A VIRGIN 'A hugely successful braid of reproductive biology, history of science, and politics, this is science writing that will keep you up past your bedtime' New Scientist 'Prasad's first book is a fascinating, topical and hugely readable investigation' Metro 'Fiery and provocative' Sunday Times 'Aarathi Prasad has travelled far into the mysterious land of human and animal conception and come back with extraordinary stories of chimaeras and parthenogens, of cannibal sharks in the womb, of pseudosperm and the prospect of birth without pregnancy. A fascinating book' Matt Ridley, bestselling author of The Red Queen PRAISE FOR IN THE BONESETTER'S WAITING ROOM 'A fascinating investigation into healthcare in India...With vivid anecdotes...this is a revealing study of Indian medicine, ancient and modern' Daily Mail 'A fascinating book about medicine in India' Observer 'A focused and fascinating journey' Nature 'A vivid, personal and panoramic journey through the health and beliefs of one fifth of humanity. Timely, fluent and packed with inspirational characters' Gavin Francis

EARLY PRAISE FOR SILK: ‘Who would have thought that a book about silkworms and spiders could be so fascinating? Aarathi Prasad cross-crosses centuries and cultures to tell of the intrepid explorers, botanists, scientists and entrepreneurs who were determined to unravel the secrets of silk production. Her book captures their persistence and her own in the search for the little-told but revelatory stories of human curiosity and ingenuity’ Clare Hunter, author of Threads of Life PRAISE FOR LIKE A VIRGIN ‘A hugely successful braid of reproductive biology, history of science, and politics, this is science writing that will keep you up past your bedtime’ New Scientist ‘Prasad’s first book is a fascinating, topical and hugely readable investigation’ Metro ‘Fiery and provocative’ Sunday Times ‘Aarathi Prasad has travelled far into the mysterious land of human and animal conception and come back with extraordinary stories of chimaeras and parthenogens, of cannibal sharks in the womb, of pseudosperm and the prospect of birth without pregnancy. A fascinating book’ Matt Ridley, bestselling author of The Red Queen PRAISE FOR IN THE BONESETTER’S WAITING ROOM ‘A fascinating investigation into healthcare in India…With vivid anecdotes…this is a revealing study of Indian medicine, ancient and modern’ Daily Mail ‘A fascinating book about medicine in India’ Observer ‘A focused and fascinating journey’ Nature ‘A vivid, personal and panoramic journey through the health and beliefs of one fifth of humanity. Timely, fluent and packed with inspirational characters’ Gavin Francis

PRAISE FOR AARATHI PRASAD'S LIKE A VIRGIN 'A hugely successful braid of reproductive biology, history of science, and politics, this is science writing that will keep you up past your bedtime'New Scientist 'Prasad's first book is a fascinating, topical and hugely readable investigation' Metro 'Fiery and provocative' Sunday Times 'Prasad's humorous and anecdote-laden approach sweeps the reader along' BBC Focus 'Aarathi Prasad has travelled far into the mysterious land of human and animal conception and come back with extraordinary stories of chimaeras and parthenogens, of cannibal sharks in the womb, of pseudosperm and the prospect of birth without pregnancy. A fascinating book' Matt Ridley, bestselling author of The Red Queen 'Think you know the birds and the bees? Prasad's whip-smart, eye-popping book takes us on a journey into the heart of gender and reproduction-a journey whose strange history is matched only by its unexpected future' David Eagleman, Neuroscientist, Author of Incognito and Sum

Author Information

AARATHI PRASAD is a writer, broadcaster, and researcher. She is the author of In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room: Travels Through Indian Medicine (Profile, 2016) which was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and won the Popular Medicine Award at the BMA Awards 2017; and Like A Virgin: How Science is Redesigning the Rules of Sex (Oneworld, 2012), shortlisted for the Salon Prize and translated into Italian, Bulgarian and Dutch. Born in London to an Indian mother who wore only silk saris and a Caribbean father who loved the natural world, Aarathi was educated in the West Indies and the UK. After completing a PhD in molecular genetics from Imperial College London, she later trained in bioarchaeology. She works as a Senior Research Fellow at the UCL Institute for Global Health, focussed on sustainability and urban health in Kenya, and as part of an international team excavating and analysing ancient DNA from funerary sites in Spain, Rome, and Pompeii.

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