Items23The creator’s order
  1. 1The Secret Life of Groceries (2020)The Secret Life of Groceries (2020) 7.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2020Benjamin Lorr spends time with the people who move food before it reaches a grocery shelf. A truck driver’s working day gives a reader a sense of how much the store’s apparent abundance depends on delivery schedules and labor that happen elsewhere. Start here if you want a familiar place to look…0
  2. 2The grid (2016)The grid (2016) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2016Gretchen Bakke explains how the United States ended up with an electrical grid built around large producers sending power out to customers. Rooftop solar complicates that old relationship. Read it to understand why changing how electricity is generated also changes arrangements and equipment that a…0
  3. 3Garbology (2012)Garbology (2012)Published Jan 1, 2012Edward Humes follows the life of trash beyond the curb. His visit to the Puente Hills landfill gives the pile a scale and history that are hard to see from the size of one household’s bag. Choose it if you want to trace which decisions have already been made by the time a truck pulls away.0
  4. 4Invisible Women (2019)Invisible Women (2019) 8.9/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2019Caroline Criado Perez takes the example of snow clearing to ask whose trips a city counts when it sets priorities. Changing what gets cleared first reflects a different understanding of how people move around. Choose it for the way an everyday public service can reveal assumptions hidden in the…0
  5. 5The Box (2006)The Box (2006) 7.4/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2006Marc Levinson follows the arrival of the shipping container and the changes that let the same box move among ships, trains, and trucks. The adoption of common sizes matters as much to the story as the container itself. Read it if you want to see how a standardized thing changes a network of jobs,…0
  6. 6On the Clock (2019)On the Clock (2019)Published Jan 1, 2019Emily Guendelsberger works in a warehouse, a call center, and a fast-food restaurant to report on what a low-wage shift demands. The comparison keeps details such as pacing and worker discretion in view across jobs that customers know mostly by their results. Choose it if you want to understand how…0
  7. 7Pipe Dreams (2021)Pipe Dreams (2021)Published Jan 1, 2021Chelsea Wald follows efforts to rethink toilets and the networks that carry away what goes into them. Looking at sanitation beyond the familiar flush makes it easier to see how designs depend on water and public investment. Choose it when you want to consider what a daily household fixture asks of…0
  8. 8Ghost Work (2019)Ghost Work (2019)Published Jan 1, 2019Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri examine the people who perform small tasks behind services that appear automated. Work such as tagging material and checking results gives a reader something concrete to look for behind an instant response. This is a good place to start if you want to trace what part…0
  9. 9Ninety Percent Of Everything Inside Shipping The Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes On Your Back Gas In Your Car And Food On Your Plate (2013)Ninety Percent Of Everything Inside Shipping The Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes On Your Back Gas In Your Car And Food On Your Plate (2013) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2013In Ninety Percent of Everything, Rose George travels aboard a container ship to report on the people who crew it. The work and long absences of seafarers give a shipping timetable a human scale. Read it for the working days that make it possible for cargo to appear in a shop halfway around the…0
  10. 10Fulfillment (2021)Fulfillment (2021)Published Jan 1, 2021Alec MacGillis traces what Amazon’s growth did to places that took on different kinds of work. Seattle gains office jobs while a former steelmaking site near Baltimore becomes a warehouse. The contrast gives you a way to see what the same service asks of two cities, long before a package reaches…0