As a kid growing up outback, I've only seen sheep up close a few times over the years. On my way home from school when I was about ten years old, I heard animals calling in the vegetable patch like they were calling "Mommy", and I fixed my eyes and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was two sheep. Later, my mother said that the family in the village who liked to raise animals bought it, and they were going to raise it for a while and then kill and eat it. After a while, I really couldn't see the two sheep again.
When I grew up, I learned that I was an Aries, and I belonged to the sheep, so I always had a wonderful feeling that "the sheep are my relatives", which prompted me to read "A Brief History of the World of Sheep You Must Love to Read".
The book talks about modern times from domesticating sheep in ancient times to using wool to spinning, and the more it goes on, the heavier it gets. But it's still a book that I really want to recommend, because the book ultimately wants to say "we changed the sheep, and the sheep changed us." The process of change is inevitably difficult and tortuous.
Half of the word "fresh" in the Chinese is sheep, which shows that the Chinese people recognize the deliciousness of sheep. So humans first domesticated sheep, probably for this delicious bite. And why can sheep become domesticated animals? Because it satisfies the six characteristics of the animal successfully passing the "acclimation test".
The first characteristic is that animals cannot be too picky eaters. The second characteristic is that the animal is able to reach adulthood quickly, and the third is that the animal is able to reproduce in captivity. The fourth characteristic is that animals are naturally docile. The fifth characteristic is that animals cannot be too timid. The sixth characteristic is that domesticated animals need to have a social structure that can have a strong leader over the entire population.
In addition to meat and milk, wool can also be made into clothing or other items. Because of reading this book, I bought a woolen scarf on Singles' Day. Although this scarf is thin, it is really warm.
The reason why wool can be used by humans for a long time is mainly that other fibers do not have the excellent adaptability of wool. Wool both drives away and absorbs moisture. It also adjusts your body feel to the outside temperature, and it's soft and tough enough like satin.
The secret of wool lies in its hidden structure. There are a lot of scales on the wool fibers. The method of making wool felt is simple, only heat, moisture and pressure are needed, and then the scales on the wool fibers can be tightly bonded to form wool felt. And wool is also a natural fireproof material.
When reading this, I remembered a fragment of a novel I read a long time ago, in which the protagonist slaps a small fire that accidentally starts in the house with wool felt, and then he successfully extinguishes the fire. Now I believe this clip may be true.
And other things on the sheep, the horns can be used in medicine, the sheep intestines are made into the earliest condoms, and the sheep dung can be dried to burn fire. A sheep is more valuable alive than it is dead. A useful sheep means business value. Therefore, from ancient times to modern times, a huge industrial chain has been formed around sheep. The huge social machine and historical reasons gave rise to a dark history called "sheep eating people".
This book is written very simplely, around the sheep to talk about its practicality and uniqueness, around people to talk about the changes in the social system. When people and sheep come together, there is the activity of shepherding. It may be that the time with the sheep is very pleasant, the boy who shepherds the shepherd has the opportunity to dream ("The Fantasy Journey of the Shepherd Boy"), and Su Wu, the middle-aged man who shepherds the sheep, has the patience to wait until he returns to his homeland.
If you're curious about sheep, don't miss this brief history of the world of sheep. Finally, I wish you all a happy reading!