Generous, enjoyable and well informed.

A dazzling array of genres, periods, styles and tastes . . . chatty, insightful, unprejudiced (but not uncritical) and wise.

500 expertly potted plots and personal comments on a wide range of pop and proper prose fiction.

John Sutherland has been teaching English literature to university students for half a century. Now he's put the 'common reader' in the classroom in this capacious, witty guide to all the books you should read to claim the epithet 'well-read'. . . Each book gets a potted plot summary and a lively squirt of literary analysis, plus intriguing nuggets about the way reading tastes have changed through time, all told in Sutherland's breezy, intelligent voice.

Anyone hooked on fiction should be warned: this book will feed your addiction.

A glorious selection of books to tempt you - all considered in witty and elegant prose. Highly recommended.

Expansive . . . elegantly chronicling how textile production came to be defined by worker exploitation, misogyny, environmental devastation, and colonialism . . . Yet she also finds space to appreciate sartorial marvels and to celebrate the loom aficionados, "denimheads," and "wool enthusiasts" who aim for a more ethical, analog future

Extraordinary . . . fascinating . . . a wonderful way into history, quite often through the voices of people who don't have a say in history

A masterpiece of investigative reporting and a riveting adventure story, Worn is both panoramic and richly particular. Thanhauser is the best of guides: humane, engaging, generous with historical anecdote and always able to reveal the telling detail. She shows how the cost of fashion far exceeds any retail price tag, and how the revival of venerable traditions might yet lead us to a sustainable future

An incredibly well-reported account of how fashion, far from being trivial, has shaped human history

This is a must-read book for anyone interested in textiles. In it Sofi Thanhauser tracks the ingenuity, creativity and human cost of textile production across centuries and cultures in a book which combines remarkable research with heartfelt care

Captivating and deeply researched . . . Thanhauser unearths the secret life of fabrics with skill and precision. Readers won't look at their wardrobes the same way again

A fascinating read, laying out how our increasingly careless use and discarding of clothing has come to damage our planet. Thanhauser has carried out a remarkable mass of research on clothes and the fibers they are made from. She has stitched it all together in a clear and engaging style that invites one to keep reading and to start mending our ways

Original, insightful and thought provoking . . . a delight to read such rich insights into the weaving and knitting together of industries, societies, political initiatives and economies of cloth that truly demonstrates humans activities

Sofi Thanhauser's history of cloth is not just about clothing: it is about ethics, workers' rights, women's progress, climate justice. It is the about the fabric of who we are. And as told in Worn, it also makes an absolutely gripping read!

Admirable concision and formidable scholarship . . . Now and then in the life of a book reviewer, a book comes along that makes you glad to be one . . . Worn falls plumb into this category

Thanhauser's geographical reach is impressive . . . as is the rigour of her examinations of the cultural, economic, political and environmental impacts