https://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Econom...
There is a great book written about shipping called The Box http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...
Really fascinating stuff.
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.
I think this story has been on HN before, but I can't find it.
Shipping rules used to be crazy
http://www.amazon.com/The-Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller/dp/...
[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." http://www.amazon.com/Box-Shipping-Container-Smaller-Economy...
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
