A powerful ode to the written word. Vallejo makes fascinating connections between modern times and ancient texts and myths. The book is one of the world's most beautiful inventions. With a book, words can travel through time and space, and we can learn about what took place, for example, as many as thirty centuries ago. Irene Vallejo takes the reader on a journey through the life of this fascinating utensil. There are stops along the route at the battlefields of Alexander the Great and at the villa of Papyri at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius, at the first known libraries and workshops where manuscripts were copied, and at the campfires where forbidden books burned. Along the way, Vallejo connects classic works with the dizzying modern world and contemporary debates: Aristophanes and the lawsuits against cartoonists, Sappho and the literary voice of women, Seneca and politics. Papyrus is an incredible adventure starring thousands of people who have ensured the survival of the book over the centuries: storytellers, copyists, illustrators, translators, street vendors, teachers, spies, rebels, nuns, slaves, adventurers and booksellers. It is a beautiful, swirling ode to the written word that shows how individual lives and societies are influenced and shaped by books.