Material World

Conway travels the supply chains of sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium — the physical substrate underneath an economy that likes to describe itself as weightless.

Why it’s on the list: Named independently in two of the crowd-sourced book lists Kyle saved in 2025 — @WillManidis’s “explain an entire industry” thread and @SpencrGreenberg’s “how the world really works” thread. A title that separate crowds reach for in answer to different questions is the signal worth acting on.

Where I saw it: In Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note, from @WillManidis asking “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025), the full recovered list on what is the single best book… (tweet); and from @SpencrGreenberg asking “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world really works?” (June 5, 2025), the full recovered list on A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet). The reply threads were transcribed by hand on September 17, 2026, because X’s syndication endpoint returns only a thread’s head post, never the replies.

Connections

• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Chip War — the sand-to-wafer chapter is the same story Miller tells from the semiconductor end.
• Supply Chain
• Energy