Why I've been a bit quiet recently...

I've been writing a book. It's out in September. I think you'll like it.

I suppose the first thing to say is: sorry. I’ve been very conscious that I haven’t posted much on recently. But I can now, at least, provide at least a partial explanation, which is that I’ve been working on a new book(!)

Trade World is, as the title probably suggests, a sort of companion to Material World. But while MW dealt primarily with the raw materials and mineral resources that underpin the modern world, Trade World delves into new territory. It tells the story of the vast web of interconnections that allow the modern world to function: supply chains, transport, middleman in their various guises. The underbelly of the modern world.

If you’ve read Material World you will probably remember that one of the chapters traced the journey of a silicon chip all the way from the mine to the smartphone into which it is eventually implanted. What I hope came across from that chapter (“The Longest Journey”) was that the degree of interdependence around the modern world is far greater than you might have imagined. Even before the silicon that will eventually become that chip has arrived in the TSMC foundry in Taiwan, it has probably circumnavigated the world once or twice. It has passed through multiple hands and multiple companies, being transformed all along the way via a series of processes that are exotic and mind-bending.

And to some extent, that probably won’t surprise you. We expect sophisticated products like smartphones and semiconductors to have exotic backstories. But what about everything else?

For it turns out these long journeys, with supply chains that bestride the globe, are hardly reserved for technology. In fact, they are everywhere.

And that is the overarching theme (though not the only one!) of this new book. Today, even the most humdrum item in your cupboard or your closet is likely to have a backstory that is wondrous, marvellous and, sometimes, disturbing. It will have clocked up more airmiles than most of you have (well, most probably sea miles). It will have passed through multiple hands, in multiple countries, most of which are nowhere to be found on the label.

That loaf of bread that looks like it’s about the most domestic, homespun product you can buy from the supermarket? The ingredients have invariably travelled thousands of miles to get from you. That pair of jeans that says it’s made in Bangladesh? Actually that massively oversimplifies the story - it was made in a host of countries, not one. The car you bought because you love the brand? Not even made by the brand!

Those items are not chosen accidentally, by the way. While Material World was the story of six substances, Trade World is the story of three everyday products that turn out to have a far deeper, more mind-bending backstory than you might have expected. Bread, clothes and cars. Understand them and you begin to understand the extraordinary history, present and future of the 21st century economy.

The story of “globalisation” (by which I basically mean: the modern world) is far knottier, far more interesting and full of far more surprises than I expected when I began on this book.

When I started writing it, I was mostly just trying to understand what really happens - not in theory but in the real world - when trade breaks down, when tariffs rise and when ships cannot travel from one side of the world to another. But over time, it became something else: a deep dive into the underbelly of the modern world. It became a lot more like Material World than I had expected.

All of which is why I wanted to share these thoughts with you today. And over the coming months, as publication date (early September) approaches I’ll have more hints and sniffs of some of the topics and stories from inside the book. I’m both tremendously excited to share it but, by the same token, conscious I need to be tantalising enough that you’ll actually buy a copy!

Upon which note, (and you’ll already be expecting this if you follow fellow authors) I’ll end with a plea: it would make an enormous difference if you could pre-order a copy now.

If you’re in the UK, may I suggest Waterstones? If you want a signed copy you could order from Backstory, a wonderful independent bookstore in London. Backstory will also ship the book internationally, if you’re outside the UK and want a copy at the earliest possible opportunity. Oh and yes there will be an audiobook and ebook and it’ll be available at all sorts of other outlets too.

Now I’m going to get on with the final edits. I hope you are all well in these topsy-turvy times.