How the Invention of Rope Gave Us Modern Civilization
Odd Lots
Bloomberg
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rope is easy to take for granted. It seems obvious and straightforward. But of course, it had to be invented. Early humans discovered that by twisting fibers around each other, the resulting structure would be something durable and strong. Without rope, all kinds of things aren't possible, from lifting objects into the air to whaling or modern bridges. So how was it developed and what were the big breakthroughs in its history? On this episode, we speak with Tim Queeney, the author of the recent book Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization. He walks us through the history of the technology, and its ongoing evolution, including how it might one day allow to build an elevator into outer space.
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Transcript
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| 1:24.8 | Thank you. Podcasts Radio News Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots podcast. |
| 1:26.1 | I'm Joe Wisenthal. |
| 1:27.3 | And I'm Tracy Allaway. |
| 1:30.9 | Tracy, you know what's something I've been thinking a lot about lately, especially like this year, just sort of like something on my mind. |
| 1:33.9 | Could be anything. |
| 1:34.5 | Well, probably in everyone's mind, actually, it's not just me. |
| 1:37.4 | It's just like the extraordinary amount of rope it must have taken for wailing expeditions |
| 1:42.5 | in the mid-19th century as depicted in a story such as |
... |
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