Contents 
SUPERFLUITY AND SUFFICIENCY: 
HOUSES, CLOTHES AND FASHION 
Houses throughout the world 
Rich building materials: stone and brick, 267 - Less 
favoured building materials: wood, earth, tabric, 272 
- Rural dwellings in Europe, 274 - Urban houses and 
dwellings, 2== - The urbanized countryside, 281. 
Interiors 
The lack of possessions of the poor, 283 - Traditional 
civilizations and unchanging interiors, 285 - The 
double pattern of Chinese furniture, 288 - In Black 
Africa, 292 - The West and its many different types 
of furniture, 293 - Floors, walls, ceilings, doors and 
windows, 294 - Chimneys and fireplaces, 298 - Fur- 
naces and stoves, 300 - Furniture makers and the 
vanities of buyers, 303 - The domestic interior seen 
whole, 306 - Luxury and comfort, 310. 
Costume and fashion 
When society stood still, 312 - If all the world were 
poor ..., 313 - Furope and the craze tor fashion, 315 
Is fashion frivolous?, 321 - The geography of tex- 
tiles, 325 - Fashion in the broad sense: long-term 
change, 328 - Conclusions?, 333. 
THE SPREAD OF TECHNOLOGY: 
SOURCES OF ENERGY, METALLURGY 
The key problem: sources of energy 
The human engine, 337 - Animal power, 341 - Wind 
engines and water engines, 353 - Sails: the European 
fleets, 362 - Wood, an everyday source of energy, 362 
Coal, 368 - Concluding remarks, 371. 
Iron: a poor relation 
The beginnings of metallurgy, 3-5 - Progress between 
the eleventh and fifteenth centuries in Styria and Dau- 
phine, 377 - Semi-concentrations, 380 - A few figures, 
381 - Other metals, 382. 
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