Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization - Hardcover

by Tim Queeney (Author)

One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2025

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 readers 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 15th-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 re-invention of rope with synthetic fibers will likely provide the strength for cables to support elevators into space. Making the story of rope real for readers, 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.

Author Biography

TIM QUEENEY is the editor of Ocean Navigator, a magazine for offshore voyager. Tim's work has appeared in Professional Mariner, American History, and Aviation History. He has had short stories published in the crime anthology Landfall, Best New England Crime Stories 2018 and in the speculative anthology A Land Without Mirrors. Tim live in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, with his wife and a rescue dog, Frankie. A life long sailor, he teaches celestial navigation, radar navigation and coastal piloting ashore -- where he tied plenty of knots and handled many a rope.