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Rope

How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization

Narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon

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Pub Date Aug 12 2025 | Archive Date Aug 12 2025

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Description

A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilization, 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 listeners on a ride through the history of rope and the way it weaves itself through the story of civilization. From Magellan's world-circling ships, to the fifteenth-century fleet of Admiral Zheng He, to Polynesian multihulls with crab claw sails, he shows how without rope, none of their adventurous voyages and discoveries would have been possible. Time traveling, he describes the building of the pyramids, the Roman Coliseum, Hagia Sofia, 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 looks at its present and possible future and how the reinvention of rope with synthetic fibers will likely provide the strength for cables to support elevators into space. Making the story of rope real for listeners, 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 that has made it possible for humans to advance throughout the centuries. 
A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilization, in the vein of single-subject bestsellers like Salt and Cod

Tim Queeney is a sailor who knows more about...

A Note From the Publisher

Amazon #1 New Release in History of Technology

Amazon #1 New Release in History of Technology


Advance Praise

“We all live in a worldwide web of rope, string, line, thread―call it what you will. The ties that bind us are everywhere. In this fascinating and accessible account, Tim Queeney unravels the sinuous, fifty-thousand-year old history of a material that even today is vastly more ubiquitous and important than we have ever thought to consider.” ―Lincoln Paine, author of The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World 

“We all live in a worldwide web of rope, string, line, thread―call it what you will. The ties that bind us are everywhere. In this fascinating and accessible account, Tim Queeney unravels the...


Available Editions

EDITION Audiobook, Unabridged
ISBN 9798331968724
PRICE $24.99 (USD)
DURATION 8 Hours, 51 Minutes

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (AUDIO)