The One Best Way

The definitive biography of Frederick Winslow Taylor — the stopwatch, the pig-iron experiments at Bethlehem, the Congressional hearings — and of the idea that there is one best way to do any piece of work.

Why it’s on the list: Named in the “explains an entire industry” thread. Taylor is the origin point for management as a discipline, and Kanigel is unusually willing to examine what the doctrine cost the people it was applied to.

Where I saw it: In Kyle’s “Books To Read” Apple Note, recovered from the reply thread to @WillManidis asking “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025). The full recovered list lives on what is the single best book… (tweet).

Kyle’s line read “The One Best Way by Frederick Taylor”. The book is about Taylor; the author is Robert Kanigel.

Connections

• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Taylorism · Scientific Management — the doctrine this is the biography of.
• Efficiency — the enigma in the subtitle.