The Fabric of Civilization
The Fabric of Civilization by Virginia Postrelby Virginia Postrel
Shares rank 38 of 51 history books by recommenders
People recommend it as a fascinating, content-rich argument that cloth and textile production was among civilization's core developments.
People recommend it as a fascinating, content-rich argument that cloth and textile production was among civilization's core developments.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Makes a fascinating argument about textiles
“It was completely fascinating, and made a good argument that the production of cloth/textiles might by one on the most import core developments”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” Full of interesting material
“It's chok full of interesting stuff.”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: What book are you reading?” Recommended to readers as worth reading
“Y’all might enjoy Virginia Postrel’s _The Fabric of Civilization_”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Archaeologists Are Reconstructing the 'Invisible' Technologies of the Stone Age”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| The Fabric of Civilizationby Virginia PostrelThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Y’all might enjoy Virginia Postrel’s _The Fabric of Civilization_”
“It's chok full of interesting stuff.”
“It was completely fascinating, and made a good argument that the production of cloth/textiles might by one on the most import core developments”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.