History and Science of Knots (gnv64)

History and Science of Knots
by J. C. Turner and P. Van De Griend
World Scientific Publishing Company | May 1996 | 448 Pages | ISBN: 9810224699 | DJVU/PDF | 4.9/19.8 mb
http://www.amazon.com/History-Science-Knots/dp/9810224699
PDF conversion is mine.

This text brings together 20 essays on diverse topics in the history and science of knots. It is divided into five parts, which deal respectively with knots in prehistory and antiquity, non-European traditions, working knots, the developing science of knots, and decorative and other aspects of knots. Its authors include archaeologists who write on knots found in digs of ancient sites (one describes the knots used by the recently discovered Ice Man); practical knottiers who have studied the history and uses of knots at sea, for fishing and for various life support activities; a historian of lace; a computer scientist writing on computer classification of doilies; and mathematicians who describe the history of knot theories from the 18th century to the present day. In view of the explosion of mathematical theories of knots in the past decade, with consequential applications, this book sets down a brief, fragmentary history of mankind's oldest and most useful technical and decorative device - the knot.

CONTENTS
Preface
Part I. PREHISTORY AND ANTIQUITY
1. Pleistocene Knotting . . . . . . . . . . .
2. Why Knot?-Some Speculations on the Earliest Knots
3. On Knots and Swamps-Knots in European Prehistory
4. Ancient Egyptian Rope and Knots . . . . . . . . .
Part II. NON-EUROPEAN TRADITIONS
5. The Peruvian Quipu . . . . . . . . . . .
6. The Art of Chinese Knotwork: a Short History
7. Inuit Knots
Part III. WORKING KNOTS
8. Knots at Sea. . . . . . . . .
9. A History of Life Support Knots
Part IV. TOWARDS A SCIENCE OF KNOTS?
10. Studies on the Behaviour of Knots. .
11. A History of Topological Knot Theory
12. On Theories of Knots . . . . . . .
13. Trambles . . . . . . . . .
14. Crochet Work-History and Computer Applications
Part V. DECORATIVE KNOTS AND OTHER ASPECTS
15. The History of Macrame
16. A History of Lace . . .
17. Heraldic Knots . . . .
18. On the True Love Knot
About the Authors
Index