For millennia, skilled carvers have chiseled stone into commandments, declarations , and epic tales of triumph and struggle. Skilled as these craftsmen were, their chosen medium had a disadvantage: its weight. At over 1,600 pounds1, it was no surprise the Rosetta Stone sat sedentary for 2,000 years before anyone dreamed of digging it up and giving it a read.
Writers welcomed the invention of lighter writing materials, scribbling on everything from birch bark to beeswax. Hammered animal hides and sunbaked plants gave way to pulped wood and rag fibers. Each evolution became ...
