Title: I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read
Author: Leonard E. Read
Publication date (first appearance): December 1958, in The Freeman (FEE).
Pages (typical modern editions): ~15 pp. (Kindle); other pamphlets 11–20 pp. depending on edition.
Value for PMs & founders (problem it solves)
A vivid mental model for supply-chain complexity and ecosystem leverage: even a “simple” product emerges from decentralized, price-guided coordination, not top-down control—useful for deciding build/partner/buy, mapping dependencies, and designing modular orgs & platforms.
Summary
Narrated by a pencil, the essay traces the global web of materials, skills, and logistics behind its making. It illustrates spontaneous order, the price system, and the idea that no single person knows enough to make a pencil, yet markets enable cooperation at scale.
3 community-reported takeaways (with sources)
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Dispersed knowledge + prices ⇒ coordination without a central planner (Smith’s “invisible hand,” Hayek’s knowledge problem). Econlib
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Division of labor & trade power even the simplest products—great for teaching supply-chain thinking. The Key Point
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Beware central-planning fallacy; embrace networked systems and incentives when scaling products. Reason Foundation
Buy online (FR & international)
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FEE Store (pamphlet, EN). FEE Store
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Amazon (Kindle, EN). Amazon
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Apple Books (EN). Apple
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AbeBooks – pamphlet reprints (EN). AbeBooks
Author of Impact Factories / Co-founder of Shy Robotics and Product Whys / Head of Product at Dassault Systèmes / Engineer passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship
Full bibliography here
