Doug’s Book Review

I never thought shipping containers were all that interesting, until I read The Box. Ugly and ubiquitous, they have changed the world in ways that are hard to imagine, even as we ourselves are experiencing the changes.

Did you ever wonder why in the last 20 years - less even - more and more products are being manufactured overseas? What you may not realize is that many things are not actually made all in one place. Parts are made here, components there, various raw materials from all over the place … it was not always so, because it was not always either practical nor economical.

Why are companies moving away from vertical integration and towards specialization?

Why is there less variety in the stores? Why is it that you can buy the same thing almost anywhere in the world?

How come you could, at one time, be a passenger on a freight ship, and now it is all but impossible?

Some of these questions are answered directly in The Box, and others you can well guess yourself after reading the book.

I found it a fascinating insight into how technology most of us rarely come face to face with has fundamentally changed our world, our jobs, our transportation systems, business, competitiveness, you name it.

Just in time manufacturing would be impossible without container ships.

The book also gives tremendous insight into how regulated the transportation industry was, and how that has changed. It gives an excellent insight into how business and economics work by way of example, although that is not really the intention of The Box.

I really enjoyed the book, and learned a lot from it. I found it an easy, engrossing and edifying read.

ISBN: 978-0-691-12324-0

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger

Last Modified : May 17th, 2007
Filed under : Business
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