First Principles, Volume 1 (ebook)

Light was once a luxury measured in candles. Aluminum sat on Napoleon's table as a metal rarer than gold. A shipping container turned the cost of moving goods across an ocean into a rounding error.

Fifty-eight teardowns of everyday things (light, steel, cement, glass, rockets, insulin, eyeglasses, a house, a parking space), each one asking the same two questions: what does this actually cost, in materials and energy and labour, and how far is today's price from that floor? Organised into five parts, with a sources section listing what was checked and where.

Volume 1 of a continuing series. Compiled from the First Principles Daily podcast, part of the Nerra Network.

What you get: the complete ebook as a DRM-free EPUB (about 3 MB), readable on Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books and any EPUB reader. Download link delivered by email immediately after purchase.