HN Books @HNBooksMonth

"The Box" describes how the container became ubiquitous and it's a good read. https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econom...

Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1780747411/

Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195313984/

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the Economy Bigger https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691136408/

The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: An Elusive World Wonder Traced https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CG3JMD0/

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature https://www.amazon.com/dp/0670031518/

The box is a really interesting history of the shipping container. It's looks at the intersection between the technological, political and business aspects of the struggle to introduce a more efficient but highly disruptive technology. It changed the way I think about driverless cars.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econ...

If you want a good read on containerization, I'd really recommend reading 'The Box', a history of shipping containers. For a topic that might sound bland, it's fascinating.

https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econom...

Amazon link to the book, in case people are curios: http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

It's extremely important. Think of it as friction which matters in the volumens we are talking about here.

There is a great book written about shipping called The Box http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

Really fascinating stuff.

I went through his list last year and selected two books that got my attention.

The first is a book about the rise of the shipping container. Really informative and clearly describes the design process behind a technique we've always taken for granted. It's a historical account mainly, starting from the idea all the way to modern day shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

The second, which I read through the first few chapters of, describes the origins of the steam engine, but it was a bit bland for my tastes.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Powerful-Idea-World/dp/022672...

Both are interesting books to be frank so I'd recommend at least checking them out.

⬐ smackfu

Yeah, The Box is a good read. A few years old now.

Read "The Box" for more history and details - http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

I think this story has been on HN before, but I can't find it.

⬐ gertef

There's this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3014516

Nautilus seems good at rehashing Hacker News favorite stories.

I know that the history of shipping containers might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but The Box is a great book http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

Shipping rules used to be crazy

⬐ afarrell

This book had a profound impact on my life for a span of 1.5 years

⬐ eru

How so? I read it too, but I didn't see much impact..

It could have done with a few illustrations.

⬐ jgalt212

I also thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it's 400 pages about the evolution of 1 device. And in those 400 pages there are 0 diagrams. A huge disservice to the read. I found myself using the wiki quite often when reading this book.

I guess this is the next upheaval in shipping. I think the last upheaval was with the introduction of the shipping container. A fascinating read on the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

⬐ mfringel

Seconded. If you spend any time at all wondering about how things are shuttled around the world, read The Box.

⬐ ghaff

It's also interesting in that it touches on many of the factors that can inhibit the adoption of new technologies: lack of standards, regulations, entrenched interests like labor agreements, and limits imposed by existing infrastructure.

    [Malcom McLean's] net worth in 1955 was $25 million -- the equivalent
    of $180 million in 2004 dollars. Asked later whether he had considered
    ways to shelter some of his wealth from the risks of entering the
    maritime business, his answer was an unequivocal "No." McLean explained:
    "You've got to be totally committed."

( The Box, http://www.amazon.com/dp/0691136408/ )

And a book thoroughly covering this from the beginning, which also provides a physical world example of successful but painful standards creation: The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...

A great book to learn all about the history of shipping containers, container ships, and the technical innovations involved therein, is The Box by Marc Levinson.

http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...

I'll bet there were a lot of people who were upset when shipping containers were standardised too.

There's a GREAT book on the subject:

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

http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...

⬐ zrail

This is a fantastic book. I reviewed it last year: https://www.petekeen.net/book-review-the-box

⬐ mrbill

What I found most interesting was how long it took to come to agreements on "standard" sizes. Lots of infighting and politics.

A fascinating book about the history of container shipping is http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...

⬐ None

None

⬐ ghaff

Great book and it also very much speaks to how, for example, processes and regulations/contracts may need to change in order for a new technology to be used effectively. Most people don't appreciate the degree to which containers underpin the globalization of manufacturing (for better or worse).

The Box, but Mark Levinson is also a great read. http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

There is a fascinating (if somewhat dry) book about the emergence of shipping containers and the freight industry called 'The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger' I enjoyed it. http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

There's a great book about the shipping container:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

It is hard to imagine a company like Amazon being successful without the humble shipping container...before its time, a ship could spend as much time loading and unloading as it would to cross the entire Atlantic.

I also think the value of the shipping container is a great analogy for any kind of logistics...such as he importance of structured data when building any kind of web app...non devs have. A hard time grasping how something as simple as a spreadsheet is so vital to collecting and organizing info for an interactive app.

⬐ nkurz

It's only mentioned at the end, but this article is an excerpt from a book as well: http://www.amazon.com/Ninety-Percent-Everything-Shipping-Inv...

⬐ Doctor_Fegg

Great book, too - I've almost finished it. (It's titled "Deep Sea and Foreign Going" here in the UK.)

I highly recommend the book "The Box" which goes deep into the history of the shipping container. http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...

In a nutshell, it was messy. It's not easy in the physical/infrastructure world to create a standard and then impose it world-wide. (ie, competing standards, etc.)

Then the container literally created and destroyed neighborhoods & cities, but as the article notes revolutionized world trade. I can HIGHLY recommend the book.

⬐ mcantelon

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2012/jan/...

⬐ jashmenn

If I may piggy-back on this thread, the idea of "containerization" is one of our inspirations at IFTTT. Information is currently being transported in "break-bulk" [1] - everyone has a different way of shuffling it around.

What we hope to do at IFTTT is develop a containerization of information; a common interface for moving data from point a to point b. Now, I realize we run the risk of creating the 15th competing standard [2], but we have some big ideas on the horizon of how we can make this work in a really general (and beautiful) way.

BTW, if these types of problems interest you, we're hiring :)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_bulk_cargo

[2] http://xkcd.com/927/

⬐ eli_gottlieb

We have a containerized standard for moving data around. It's called TCP/IP.

What you're developing is a containerized standard for moving understanding around, manipulating data in a relatively standard way while still maintaining its context.

⬐ lsb

Understanding, or just information. Data is "things that have been given [to you]", from the Latin, whereas information is something that informs you [about the world].

The book is a fascinating read: http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...

It chronicles competing standards, proprietary efforts, attempts at sea-rail-road integration, with some lively characters thrown in. It captures the entrepreneurial vibe of the heady postwar decades. I loved it.

⬐ hga

Indeed, it'll teach you a lot about how the recent "modern" world developed; containers became important for the Vietnam War, but its mostly pure business and economic history, with sufficient detail---well, enough for me---on the technical side. Also the interplay of government laws and regulation, and shipping cartels, on the path this all took. And tells you why most of the historic ports of old faded away.

Absolutely fascinating.

Here's two good relevant books:

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691136408/

A general history, and you'll find the section on coupling standardization all too familiar. Although the text leaves out one critical detail:

Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262014432/

(There's but one picture of one of the huge diesel engines that power pretty much all large cargo ships.)

These "prime movers", along with the steam turbine, which produces most of the world's electricity, are all examples of rational or scientific design (compare to the cut and try history of the steam engine). The impulse to develop his engine came to Mr. Diesel during a thermodynamics lecture.

ADDED: And even more relevant to HN, the diesel engine did a pivot when it's intended (by Diesel, at least) primary use was supplanted by the AC electric motor.

⬐ 0x12

So, you like your diesels large? Check this one out then:

http://gcaptain.com/emma-maersk-engine

I hope 109,000 HP is enough for you.

⬐ mixmax

Talking about powerful engines, check out this rocket Engine sporting roughly 180.000 horsepower.

Made by a few crazy rocket amateurs in Copenhagen.

http://copenhagensuborbitals.com/heat1x.php

⬐ hga

Yeah, but these engines will keep pumping out their lower power, directly connected to a shaft and propeller, for very long periods of time with minimal maintenance (read Prime Movers or I'm sure lots of other sources for e.g. how the linkages to the pistons keep them from wearing out of round quickly). These are monster ships that are entrusted with just one engine ... that says a lot.

⬐ hga

The engine rates a long paragraph in Prime Movers and there's a picture of the ship as well. I get the impression that when the book was in production it was the biggest engine in use, but MAN B&W offers a slightly more powerful one and has designed a significantly more powerful one as well if/when it's needed.

As for "enough"? Well, measured as shaft vs. brake horsepower, Iowa class battleships (with their superheaters running) would put out nearly twice as much and Nimitz class supercarriers 2.4 times as much. But of course those are fast ships designed to go in harm's way. For the merchant marine, these diesels are "enough".

⬐ smackfu

The Box is really good. One really hard part about containerization was: how do you get every port in the world to install the cranes?

⬐ eru

The Wikipedia article mentions that the ships had cranes.

⬐ hga

Read The Box. They didn't work very well, frequently breaking down and they weren't very fast either. As I recall after that first generation the emphasis switched to good port facilities including good cranes (but a lot more is required including enough ground transport).

Quite a few historical ports essentially died for one reason or another while quite a few went from virtually nothing to world class (in both capacity and traffic). All in all it's a fascinating story of technology and technique development and diffusion.

⬐ eru

P.S. I just ordered The Box from Amazon.

⬐ eru

Yes. Even in the Wikipedia article they say that they switched from ship cranes to port cranes early. Also the rest of the industry (apart from the stevedores) was quite enthusiastic and didn't need much convincing.

Yes, those are all good reasons, and as a delighted reader of "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" (http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy... Highly Recommended!) I knew about their leading role as a container port although not that they're now the biggest.

What I'm sort of musing about is why Japan wasn't chosen. If this were the '80s it would be much more likely, but compared to then Japan is now less politically and socially stable, it's been mired in what is now it's second Lost Decade, the government's "active role in fostering business growth" is gone or incompetent at doing that per se and between the economics and demographics I don't know of anyone who I respect who thinks it has a future.

And I suspect the economic center of gravity of east Asia has moved away from Japan and likely in Singapore's direction. Singapore has of course been hit by the Great Recession, but not (as of yet) catastrophically so, so they're suitably hungry.

If the guess that both of us have made that the Singapore government had a hand in this is correct, it's obviously easier to deal with a small city state than a much larger nation.

You might find reading _The Box_ ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691136408/conmanlabo... ) interesting. When shipping containers were first used in 1956, the various longshoreman unions were really unhappy and fought quite hard to keep the status quo.

Sending manufacturing to China and other SE Asian countries is far cheaper than even Mexican labor. While 1 day's wages of a median Mexican assembly worker is less than 1 hour of a median domestic US assembly worker's wages; 1 day's wages of a median Chinese assembly worker is cheaper than 1 hour of the media Mexican worker.

There were some articles last year (or maybe it was 2008) about textile manufacturing in the US, and how the Chinese were subsidizing them to the point where even if the US workers worked for free, the US plants could not compete on price.

To understand how much manufacturing changed, I recommend reading The Box. The shipping container totally changed everything by reducing shipping costs by about 98%. A lot of cities that used to be manufacturing centers (such as NYC and Detroit) withered, and a lot of cities that used to be shipping centers (such as NYC and London) also shriveled up because they could not support container traffic.

http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...