Sitting on Cows!: our love for leather

Cows and humans have enjoyed a millennia-long relationship. They graze, and we milk them, eat them, and turn them into furniture. Perhaps this is something of a one-sided relationship, but to this day cows continue to influence our day-to-day lives through their representation in children's toy farms and the many bovine products they provide.

One of the most luxurious ways cows contribute to our daily lives, the focus of this book, is leather.

Cows offer such a variety of highly valued products that to focus on any one of them would merit a book of its own.

While the journey a cow takes from the field to the dinner table is fairly straightforward and familiar to most, the production of leather for couches, sofas, straps, and bags, all the way to Jimmy Choos, whips, and Rolex straps, is a whole world of its own.

There is a whole process of leather production that is unfamiliar to many.

Inside Sitting on Cows!, you'll learn all about:

• The many ways in which cows influence our lives and the many features of daily life that we owe to these mighty beasts
• The processes involved in creating the wide variety of leathers used today for things so popular that you never thought to ask where they come from
• The many ways leather can be used in a range of industries and crafts to create the incredible and long-lasting products we enjoy
• The challenges of modern leathermaking for leatherworkers, the environment, and of course cows, as well as the solutions that are being developed

On top of these detailed discussions on leather itself, you'll also find the histories of a selection of leather products from throughout the ages, from sporting goods to medical equipment.

Leather upholstery has been fundamental to humanity for thousands of years and is still a significant feature of a multitude of objects we use daily.

If you're looking for an amusing and enlightening book that will broaden your understanding of leather, as well as change the way you see humanity's relationship with the humble cow, then look no further than Sitting on Cows!