Interesting.
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Aarathi Prasad’s Silk: A History in Three Metamorphoses is not a light read. Dr Prasad is a writer and broadcaster, so she knows how to convey information in a way that draws the reader in. She also has a PhD in Genetics, so she really knows her technical stuff. The three metamorphoses in the sub-title are significant. We may all know that silkworms produce the silk thread that’s woven to make fabric but I hadn’t associated spider webs and threads with silk (I don’t know why, it just hadn’t clicked with me); and I was completely unaware that some molluscs also produce thread. As Dr Prasad writes, “Because there is not just one silk, there is not just one story of silk.” She covers the three families of creatures that produce silk in immense detail, explaining who first studied each family; what they discovered; and taking each story up to the present day. Silkworms get the greatest coverage although molluscs and spiders still get a few chapters each. And when I say “present day”, Dr Prasad includes research that was published in 2022: this really is cutting-edge stuff. I felt privileged to be shown what scientists (and the military) are currently researching and what challenges they face. They have achieved amazing things, e.g. growing mycelium (fungal threads) and using them to create handbags and trainers, but, as Dr Prasad emphasises, it’s essential to be able to do those things on a commercial scale. I’m in two minds about this book. One the one hand, it is incredibly well researched and Dr Prasad shares a lot of information without either talking down to the reader or blinding them with science. I was fascinated to read that “It would need about sixty miles of spider silk to knit one thin shirt.” On the other hand, some of the phrasing reminds me of an eighteenth century book, e.g. “But it is not Arianna’s impression that it is impossible that this silk had been used in antiquity.” I had to read that sentence several times to understand it. It’s valid; it’s unambiguous; it’s over-complicated with too many negatives. Why not say “Arianna thinks it is possible that this silk had been used in antiquity.”? On balance, the positives outweigh the negatives and I do recommend this book, but be aware that some sections are easier to read than others!
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Looks like dump of collected stories which are not appealing
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