Faux Real Genuine Leather and 200 Years of Inspired Fakes Robert
Kanigel "A sound researcher and an engaging writer. . . . Kanigel
intelligently takes time to address the philosophical question of
the importance of faux versus real."--"Publishers Weekly"
"Fantastic cultural history. Smart and sensual prose. You'll never
look at your Manolos the same way again."--Sylvia Nasar, author of
"A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel
Laureate John Nash" "Kanigel's book is an easy and pleasurable
read. . . . A tribute to leather's physical and tactile properties
and to humankind's ingenuity and persistence in attempting to
imitate them."--"Design and Culture" What makes genuine leather
genuine? What makes real things real? In an age of virtual reality,
veneers, synthetics, plastics, fakes, and knockoffs, it's hard to
know. Over the centuries, men and women have devoted enormous
energy to making fake things seem real. As early as the fourteenth
century, fabric was treated with special oils to make it resemble
leather. In the 1870s came Leatherette, a new bookbinding material.
The twentieth century gave us Fabrikoid, Naugahyde, Corfam, and
Ultrasuede. Each claims to transcend leather's limitations, to do
better than nature itself--or at least to convince consumers that
it does. Perhaps more than any other natural material, leather
stands for the authentic and the genuine. Its animal roots etched
in its pores and in the swirls of its grain, leather serves as
cultural shorthand for the virtues of the real over the synthetic,
the original over the copy, the luxurious over the shoddy and
second-rate. From formica, vinyl siding, and particle board to
cubic zirconium, knockoff designer bags, and genetically altered
foods, inspired fakes of every description fly the polyester
pennant of a brave new man-made world. Each represents a journey of
scientific, technical, and entrepreneurial innovation. "Faux Real"
explores this borderland of the almost-real, the ersatz, and the
fake, illuminating a centuries-old culture war between the
authentic and the imitative. Robert Kanigel is Professor of Science
Writing at MIT and author of several books, including "The Man Who
Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan," a finalist for the
National Book Critics Circle and "L.A. Times" Book awards. Sep 2010
296 pages 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-8122-2132-9 Paper $19.95s 13.00 World
Rights Business, Cultural Studies Short copy: From Leatherette to
Naugahyde, men and women have devoted enormous energy to making
fake leather seem real. "Faux Real" explores this borderland of the
almost-real, the ersatz, and the fake, illuminating a centuries-old
culture war between the authentic and the imitative.
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