The Alchemy of Air is both the story behind the Haber Bosch process and the men who developed it. The Haber Bosch process to make synthetic fertilizer is widely viewed as one of the most important chemical developments in the progress of human civilization as well as the development of wartime chemicals. It is still the predominant mode of ammonia manufacturer. Hager takes us through what problems Haber and Bosch were trying to solve and both the intended and unintended consequences of the technology development. It is also very much the story of two German men – a chemist and a chemical engineer -- honored by the Nobel Prize but challenged, in different ways, by living in Germany during the Nazi era. A worthwhile read for experts and learners and very much for students of history.

If you are in production or consumption, you are in waste. That means all of us are in waste, even though we do not give it much thought. In Waste Wars, Alexander Clapp put a sharp focus on the global movement of waste in a read that I would recommend to all. He ties the movement of waste to policy development, history, economics, the environment, geopolitics, and takes us along journeys in the waste streams of chemicals, e-waste, steel, paper, plastic, and so much more. Clapp presents the many dimensions of the waste trade – with an underlying message that waste is not its own category but rather every bit as important as the production and consumption. Just as we need to consider the supply chain for the products we supply and demand, the impact of waste – environmentally, economically, and even in terms of land use – needs to be part of the conversation.

Empire AI is the story of OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman–the mission, the technology, the data, and the AI ecosystem. It is a story that unfolds in real time; Hao presents it as such. In her compact, dense, but easy to read 421 pages, she shares the story of speed, tension and balance, and making up the rules along the way—between doomers and boomers, mission and commercialization, launch and iterate versus careful refinement and open source versus proprietary. We are all aware of the tension with transformational technologies – harnessing the good while protecting humanity from the danger. The tension is not limited to the use of AI (beneficial vs destruction) but some of the less visible supply impacts of the growth of AI. We are increasingly aware of the huge electricity loads that come with AI training data centers but maybe are less aware of the data supply chain and the content-moderation filtering that is required in the making of the large language models. Tracing this supply chain unearthed economic exploitation, horrible working conditions, and exposure to the worst dark corners of data of the internet. In many measures this is another phase of colonization. Hao spends considerable time on Sam Altman’s leadership and his role in guiding the company, the direction of AI overall, and its impacts on policy, the economy and geopolitics. Hao stops short of offering recommendations or backseat driving, but offers a clue through a positive example of rescuing a nearly extinct language. This book is a must read for basically everyone. It might be particularly useful for those establishing the guard rails around AI – harnessing the good and protecting humanity from the danger.

Dan Wang’s leverages his life experiences in both the US and China in a compelling read that tells the story of the two nations as a comparison between the Engineering State” (China) with the “Lawyerly Society” (US). Wang showcases the growing strength of China’s technology prowess as it has built on process knowledge and the rapid iteration between innovators and executors. In addition, he takes the reader through the China playbook on building infrastructure – bridges, airports, roads, high speed transport, and the list goes on and on. Wang picks these two areas intentionally as much of the recent focus in the US has been on reshoring manufacturing, technology superiority (particularly AI), and building/modernizing infrastructure within and between cities. There is much to learn about where China is at today (and not 30 years ago). He contrasts the Chinese strength at construction with the US where the lawyers excel at obstruction.

Lest you think that Wang is biased toward China, he also identifies some of the significant shortcomings of the engineering state and uses the One Child Policy and the zero-Covid Policy failings as case studies. He argues that the lawyerly state by its construction would prevent these extremes.

Wang believes that in many respects China and the US are similar (this after many contrasting narratives) – the two nations are global leaders, highly competitive, focused on cheap products (China more on production and US more on consumption), and need each other at this moment to ensure their economies remain strong.

This book is a must read with the current trade shifts and reordering of a globalized economy toward stronger national or regional centric issues. Wang’s research centers on these issues and in addition to this very readable and engaging book, you can find many recent podcasts and interviews that he has released.

The World for Sale is not exclusively about oil but Blas and Farchy reinforce the scale and importance of the oil global trade in the rank order of the commodities – they also cover grain and metals as well. On one level, the World for Sale is an expose on the men (and they nearly are all men) that have built and run the leading global trading firms. For the most part, they are low profile - by design. On another level, it is a story about the commodity markets, the geopolitics, and the financial systems that both necessitated the need for these intermediaries, and the risks that the trading firms took on. Blas and Farchy also shape the narrative about the people and the firms – how they were created and how they evolved over time with changing business models, the democratization of information, and the United States (and other nations) using its economic power with commodity and tech firms as well as the banking system to exact foreign policy aims.