I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

Introduction

• Subject: "I, Pencil" describes the seemingly simple pencil, emphasizing its complexity and the vast network involved in its creation.
• Purpose: To highlight the mystery and interconnectedness of its production, advocating for the realization of the miracle it represents.

Complexity of the Pencil

• Appearance: Wood, lacquer, graphite lead, metal ferrule, and eraser.
• Mystery: Despite its simplicity, no single person knows how to make an entire pencil alone.
• Production Scale: Approximately 1.5 billion pencils produced annually in the USA.

Antecedents and Production

• Wood Source: Cedar trees from Northern California and Oregon.
  • Harvesting: Involves saws, trucks, and numerous other tools requiring various skills.
  • Logistics: Transportation involves a network of railroads and mills.
• Milling Process: Cedar logs are processed into slats at a mill in San Leandro, California.
  • Machinery: Includes complex machines for grooving, gluing, and assembling.

Components and Materials

• Graphite: Mined in Ceylon, involves miners and multiple steps of shipping and processing.
• Clay: Sourced from Mississippi, involves chemical treatments.
• Lacquer: Ingredients include castor oil and involves many more unknown processes.
• Metal Ferrule: Made of brass, requiring zinc and copper mining and processing.
• Eraser (Plug): Composed of factice, involves various chemical reactions and international sourcing.

The Invisible Hand

• No Master Mind: Highlighting the absence of a single orchestrator behind the pencil's creation.
• Invisible Hand: Suggests that the natural coordination of creative energies is driven by individual needs and desires, not by a central planner.

Miraculous Interconnectedness

• Human Energies: The pencil symbolizes a miracle of countless human efforts and skills coming together spontaneously.
• Faith in Freedom: Emphasizes the importance of faith in free enterprise and individual efforts without coercive control.

Lessons and Implications

• Freedom in Creativity: Advocates for minimal interference in creative processes, letting natural human ingenuity thrive.
• Testimonies of Freedom's Success: Examples of successful free enterprises, such as mail delivery and technological advancements.

Conclusion

• Practical Faith: Calls for belief in the power of free individuals to create and innovate, using the pencil as a testament to the practical outcomes of such faith.

Author: Leonard E. Read, founder of FEE, with "I, Pencil" being his most famous essay, originally published in 1958.

Manufacturing Details: Originally by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, with some changes over time but the principles remain the same.