The library
Books
A growing library. Each book takes one thing the modern world runs on - what it is, how it was invented, the industry that grew around it, and where that industry stands. Every book links its source companion: the book's sources, how fully each was read, and its limits.
Sugar
Plant, Crystal, Empire · 133 pages
Crude Oil
Rock, Fuel, Empire · 111 pages
Copper
Ore, Wire, Power · 78 pages
The Shipping Container
How a steel box remade the trade of the world · 72 pages
The Motor Car
Machine, Industry, World · 106 pages
Penicillin
A Great Inventions of the Century book · 80 pages
The Transistor
The device that taught matter to compute - and remade the world around it · 109 pages
The Banknote
Paper, Promise, Power · 83 pages
The Submarine Cable
How the world wired its oceans · 109 pages
The Hydroelectric Dam
Water, Concrete, Power · 96 pages
The Skyscraper
Steel, Glass, Sky · 77 pages
Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizer
Air, Fire, Bread · 136 pages
Portland Cement
Stone, Fire, Concrete · 118 pages
Paper
Fibre, Web, World · 138 pages
The Jet Engine
Fire in a Tube, and the End of Distance · 118 pages
The Ball Bearing
A perfect sphere, and the age of rotation it made possible · 109 pages
The Railway Locomotive
The machine that put power on wheels - and drew the modern world behind it · 125 pages
The Television
Ray, Raster, Empire · 112 pages
The Lithium-ion Battery
Ion, Cell, Charge · 146 pages
The Printing Press
A Machine for Multiplying Thought · 117 pages
The Pneumatic Tire
Air, Rubber, Road · 136 pages
The Air Conditioner
Ice, Vapor, Empire · 138 pages
Denim Jeans
Fibre, Indigo, Uniform · 134 pages
The Operating System
Supervisor, Kernel, Ghost · 106 pages
Beer
Field, Kettle, Glass · 157 pages
Soap
Ash, Fat, Foam · 116 pages
The X-ray Machine
Shadow, Bone, Light · 122 pages
Sodium Benzoate
The White Salt · 116 pages
The Credit Card
Plastic, Promise, Debt · 120 pages
The Cigarette
Leaf, Smoke, Empire · 165 pages
The Steam Turbine
Heat, Spin, Current · 112 pages