Adventures in Stationery

Book excerpt: Proving that any subject can be interesting if you delve into it deeply, stationery aficionado James Ward offers a surprisingly entertaining history of office supplies. Did you know that Henry David Thoreau contributed to pencil manufacture? Or that the Monkees' Mike Nesmith inherited $25 million earned by his mother's invention, Liquid Paper? Or that Norwegians wore paper clips as a symbol of resistance to the Nazis? Ward, who blogs on I Like Boring Things, unearths the magic in the mundane, relating the often-convoluted stories behind the creation of paper, pens, pencils, paper clips, staples and tape. Don't expect business case studies of 3M or the Parker Pen Company; Ward is a cultural connoisseur who tempers his enthusiasm for the stationery cabinet with full awareness of its absurdity. getAbstract recommends his informative, memorable and fun essays to anyone who ever borrowed a Sharpie from the office or made a necklace of paper clips.