Silk

Aarathi Prasad is a writer, broadcaster, and researcher. 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 is an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London's Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, and part of an international team excavating and analyzing ancient DNA from funerary sites in Spain, Rome, and Pompeii. She is the author of two books published in the UK, In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room: Travels Through Indian Medicine and Like a Virgin: How Science Is Redesigning the Rules of Sex.

"In Silk, Aarathi Prasad spins a masterpiece of a story, as luminous, supple, and surprising as the wondrous threads themselves. Page after page I was shocked and spellbound by the efforts of researchers obsessed by silk's mysteries, and by the profound impact of a substance extruded by humble invertebrates on the course of human history. Most of all, I came away from this riveting book awed and humbled by the powers of silk-weaving animals themselves. I'm heartened to read of new efforts to create this magical substance, inspired by, but without subjugating, the animals who have given us this amazing gift." - Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus and Of Time and Turtles

"The story of silk-a material simultaneously familiar and exotic-is more than an eye-opening history, more than a meditation on humans' complex relationship to nature. It is the very story, rich and deeply interwoven, of ourselves. There is no better guide to weave us through its science, its narrative, and its deeply human revelations than Aarathi Prasad." - Brian Christian, author of The Alignment Problem and Algorithms to Live By

"Both scientific and poetic, this remarkable book shows how the great tides of history are shaped through human encounters with the intricate variety of the non-human world." - David Wengrow, co-author of the international bestseller The Dawn of Everything

"Aarathi Prasad's Silk: A World History is a love song to this protean material. . . . Beautiful [and] fascinating." - Wall Street Journal

"Prasad unwinds tangled threads to weave one arc. . . Fascinating facts abound." - Scientific American

"A vibrant cultural and scientific history . . . [R]ichly detailed . . . A colorful, wholly absorbing narrative tapestry." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)