I enjoyed the piece on the humble pencil. It’s always fun to dive into the backstory of important but overlooked innovations.
By the way, it’s worth mentioning economist Leonard Read’s classic short essay, “I Pencil” from 1958 (link: https://fee.org/resources/i-pencil/) and Milton Friedman riffing on Read’s essay in a TV series from 1980 (link: https://youtu.be/67tHtpac5ws). Both presented the pencil—through it’s complex and disparate supply chain and processing—as an exemplar of the free market economy.
Thanks David for the mention! I was planning to write my interpretation of Lenoard Read's I Pencil and share it one day. It's is an interesting perspective!
Are you aware of The Toaster Project by Thomas Twaites?
If you found I Pencil interesting, you would love the toaster project as well. I had shared about it earlier on the newsletter. He has also written a book: https://geni.us/rsh-toaster-project
Great list of things as usual! Last week I went to an exhibition also called Future Fossils. https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/story/future-fossils. Not sure if these two projects are related but very interesting concept!
I enjoyed the piece on the humble pencil. It’s always fun to dive into the backstory of important but overlooked innovations.
By the way, it’s worth mentioning economist Leonard Read’s classic short essay, “I Pencil” from 1958 (link: https://fee.org/resources/i-pencil/) and Milton Friedman riffing on Read’s essay in a TV series from 1980 (link: https://youtu.be/67tHtpac5ws). Both presented the pencil—through it’s complex and disparate supply chain and processing—as an exemplar of the free market economy.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks David for the mention! I was planning to write my interpretation of Lenoard Read's I Pencil and share it one day. It's is an interesting perspective!
Are you aware of The Toaster Project by Thomas Twaites?
If you found I Pencil interesting, you would love the toaster project as well. I had shared about it earlier on the newsletter. He has also written a book: https://geni.us/rsh-toaster-project
Thanks for the tip, I will check it out!
Great list of things as usual! Last week I went to an exhibition also called Future Fossils. https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/story/future-fossils. Not sure if these two projects are related but very interesting concept!
Thanks a lot for mentioning it Sharif. I don't think these are related, but addresses a common issue: our damage and the trace left in this planet. :)