Rope : How a Bundle of Twisted Fibres Became the Backbone of Civilisation

A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilisation, in the vein of single-subject bestsellers like "Salt" and "Cod".

Tim Queeney is a sailor who knows more about rope and its importance to humankind than most. In "Rope", Queeney takes readers on a ride through the history of rope and the way it weaves itself through the story of civilisation.

From Magellan's world-circling ships to the 15th-century fleet of Admiral Zheng He and Polynesian multihulls with crab-claw sails, he shows how, without rope, none of their adventurous voyages and discoveries would have been possible.

Time-travelling, he describes the building of the pyramids, the Roman Colosseum, Hagia Sophia, Notre-Dame, the Sultan Hasan Mosque, the Brooklyn Bridge and countless other constructions that would not have been possible without rope.

Not content to just look at rope's past, Queeney examines its present and possible future, and how the reinvention of rope with synthetic fibres will likely provide the strength for cables to support elevators into space.

Drawing upon personal experience, Queeney tells remarkable nautical stories of his own reliance on rope at sea. "Rope" is history, adventure and the story of one of the world's most common tools, which has made it possible for humans to advance throughout the centuries.